Iranian FM’s visit to Turkey postponed

Foreign Offices of both countries also hold regular consultations on bilateral and regional issues.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman had said a new Iranian peace plan was based on “respect for the Syrian people’s legitimate right to reforms and to decide their own future”.

Earlier, Gadkari became the first minister of the Modi government to visit Iran and his tour saw New Delhi inking a Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran, pledging to build a container terminal and a multi-purpose cargo terminal on two berths at the Chabahar Port.

During a visit to Islamabad on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif said his country hoped for a “positive outcome” from the talks between the two sides, bringing an end to decades of conflict.

Zarif was scheduled to arrive Wednesday afternoon in Damascus.

The Observatory said negotiations were held between Ahrar al Sham and Iranian delegations and Hezbollah, but the source who is close to Damascus said the agreement was made between the insurgent group and the Syrian government. The Observatory said the rebel rockets on the capital killed one person and wounded 20 others, while army airstrikes killed around 30 people in nearby rebel-held areas. Iran and Russian Federation have continued to back Assad.

India has pledged to invest about United States dollars 85 million in developing the strategic port, located on Iran’s southeastern coast, which would provide India a sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

The war has turned Syria into a patchwork of areas run by an array of armed groups including the ultra-hardline Islamic State, a well-organized Kurdish militia, the Nusra Front and other rebels who espouse a nationalist agenda.

As part of the Syrian peace plan, Assad would retain “a tokenistic role, that is, he will be a president without authority”, the report said, while an alternate government is formed.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah met with Zarif and the two discussed Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 250,000 people since the conflict began March 2011.

Zarif reiterated that his visit to India creates suitable opportunities for the broadening of ties after the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the world powers as well as removal of some problems.

Zarif’s statements were carried by Al-Manar, the television of the powerful Lebanese Shiite group, which is supported by Iran.