Iran coordinates military presence in Syria with Russia — Iranian official

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif enter a hall during a meeting in Moscow on April 28, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 13 July 2018
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Iran coordinates military presence in Syria with Russia — Iranian official

MOSCOW: Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday that Tehran coordinates positions on its military presence in Syria with Moscow and Damascus.
He made his comments at a conference in Moscow, in response to a question about whether Iran might withdraw its forces from Syria’s southern border region, near Israel.
Velayati also said that US sanctions against Iran could raise oil prices and harm oil consumers.

Meanwhile, a top aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran would immediately withdraw its "military advisers" from Syria and Iraq only if their governments wanted it to.
"Iran and Russia's presence in Syria will continue to protect the country against terrorist groups and America's aggression ... We will immediately leave if Iraqi and Syrian governments want it, not because of Israel and America's pressure," said Ali Akbar Velayati in a conference in Moscow.
Iran and Russia back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.


Iran’s new supreme leader ‘safe and sound’ despite war injury reports: president’s son

Updated 37 min 51 sec ago
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Iran’s new supreme leader ‘safe and sound’ despite war injury reports: president’s son

TEHRAN: Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "safe and sound" despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, said the son of the Iranian president on Wednesday.
"I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel.
State television had called Khamenei a "wounded veteran of the Ramadan war" but never specified his injury.
The new supreme leader is the son and successor of the Islamic republic's longtime ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 which triggered a war across the Middle East.
The 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, a discreet figure who has rarely appeared in public or spoken at official events, has yet to address the nation or issue a written statement since he was declared supreme leader on Sunday.
In a Wednesday report, the New York Times quoting three unnamed Iranian officials said that Khamenei "had suffered injuries, including to his legs, but that he was alert and sheltering at a highly secure location with limited communication".