Syria’s al-Assad to visit Iran next week

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 01 – Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will visit Tehran on August 9 to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 01 – Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will visit Tehran on August 9 to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.

Al-Assad will head a high-level Syrian delegation during the two-day visit.

The government-run news agency Fars reported that al-Assad's discussions with Iranian officials will focus on bilateral, regional and international issues as well as Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Damascus on July 17 and held talks with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Assad was in Paris earlier in July where he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Al-Assad had said that he would pass on a message from Sarkozy to Tehran over the nuclear standoff between the Islamic Republic and the West.

Mottaki has visited Syria on half a dozen other occasions since last year, including in February and March 2008.

Iran’s First Vice President Parviz Davoudi travelled to Damascus on March 5 where the two sides signed nine memoranda of understanding (MoU) on expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

Regional allies Iran and Syria are both accused by the United States of being state sponsors of terrorism.