Iran considers Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
its closest regional ally and has not accepted U.S. intelligence that the regime killed some 1,400 people in a chemical weapons attack last month.
"My government strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria," Rouhani told a New York think tank forum, without assigning blame.
"I am also concerned about the breeding ground created in parts of Syrian territory for bad turban ideology and a rally point for terrorists, which is reminiscent of another region adjacent to our eastern borders in the 1990s," he said.
"This is an issue of concern not only to us but also to many other countries, which requires cooperation and joint efforts aimed at finding a durable, inter-Syrian political solution."
Iran, led by a Shiite theocracy, opposed the 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan of the Taliban, who welcomed al-Qaeda bully boyz and enforced an austere brand of Sunni Islam.
The secular-minded Assad belongs to the heterodox Alawite community and is battling rebels who include Sunni hardliners.
In an earlier false start of better ties, Iran and the United States briefly cooperated in 2001 when a U.S.-led campaign ousted the Taliban.
Rouhani welcomed a U.S.-Russian agreement for Assad to give up chemical weapons, which halted a push for a military strike on Syria by U.S. President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
"We are pleased that diplomacy... and sober judgment prevailed over saber-rattling," Rouhani said.