Vahidi condemns EU decision to end arms embargo against Syrian

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi strongly condemned the European Union for its decision to send weapons to the rebel groups who are fighting the Syrian government. The EU agreed late Monday to lift its embargo on arming the Syrian opposition groups after much debate and a strong push by France and Britain. Britain and France will supply weapons to Syrian rebel groups after EU governments failed to renew an arms embargo which expires June1. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting here in Tehran on Wednesday, Vahidi condemned the EU decision, and stated, "It is filthy that the EU wants to arm terrorists inside a country to destroy a nation's infrastructures." He warned that the EU move may cause a change in the decisions and approaches of other countries in the region. Vahidi's remarks came a day after the Iranian foreign ministry blasted the EU decision and warned the decision would result in the spread of terrorism in the European countries. "The decision to lift the embargos on arms shipment to the terrorist groups in Syria is a dangerous one," Araqchi told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday. "By their incorrect decision to support such groups, the European countries brought the terrorists thousands of kilometers closer to their soil and such a hasty and incorrect decision will certainly increase threats against them," he added. The EU decision has also provoked harsh criticism from other sides. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Tuesday that the decision may damage the upcoming international conference on Syria in Geneva. "This is a manifestation of double standards and a direct damage to prospects for convocation of the international conference on Syria on which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed on May 7," Ryabkov said. In similar remarks, Russia's NATO envoy Alexander Grushko argued that the European Union's decision to lift its arms embargo for the Syrian opposition will only serve to further escalate the armed conflict in that country. "It is necessary to refrain from taking steps that would contradict this logic. Among such steps I see armed or non-lethal support for the opposition. It will simply add fuel to the fire," Grushko told journalists, commenting on the EU's decision not to prolong its arms embargo for the Syrian opposition. Meanwhile, Canada's top diplomat warned of "more violence, more deaths and more destruction" in Syria that risks spilling over into neighboring countries if the European Union arms Syrian insurgents. "My strong view is that the only way to end the suffering of the Syrian people is a political solution," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters. "Flooding the country and the region with more arms will lead to more violence, more deaths and more destruction, so certainly Canada has no intention of following suit," he said on Tuesday. "Our strong concern is the number of radical jihadist which have entered parts of the opposition and in our view, that's not getting better, it's getting worse."