Iranian FM leaves for Qatar

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi left Tehran for Doha Saturday afternoon to felicitate Qatar's new Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Khalifa al-Thani on his ascending to power and discuss bilateral ties and regional developments with the Qatari officials. During his short trip, Salehi will meet Sheikh Tamim on ways to settle the regional problems, specially the Syrian crisis peacefully. The 33-year-old Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani assumed power in Qatar after his father Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani stepped down in favor of his son. Salehi had in a message on Wednesday extended his congratulation to Qatar's new Emir on his ascending to power, and expressed the hope that he would reconsider Doha's stance on the Syrian crisis. “We hope that the new emir will have a special reflection on Syria and seriously reconsider the previous policies (of his country) so that the Syrian crisis will come under control with the help of Iran and the (other) regional countries and the Syrian people will be relieved from their current hardship and the shedding of the innocent people's blood at the earliest, and the killings will stop and peace, security and stability will return to Syria,” Salehi said at a joint press conference with his Tajik counterpart Hamrokhon Zarifi in Tehran. The Iranian minister further noted his recent visit to Doha and his meeting with the then Qatari Crown Prince, Sheikh Tamim (who ascended to power as the Persian Gulf country's new Emir yesterday), and said, "The views of His Excellency about expansion and deepening of ties was encouraging (then), and we hope that in this new era, our views about key regional issues would come closer to each other, specially with regard to Syria which is a crucial and pivotal issue." Salehi warned that the Syrian crisis would have dire consequences for the entire region if it is not approached correctly. Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have been widely viewed as the West's main Middle East allies in fomenting violence in Syria and financing the terrorists fighting against the President Bashar al-Assad's government. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against the Syrian police, border guards, statesmen, army and the civilians being reported across the country. Thousands of people have been killed since terrorist and armed groups turned protest rallies into armed clashes. The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad. In October 2011, calm was almost restored in most parts of the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies brought the country into chaos through every possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.