Syria, Iran defend strong ties and say US should not dictate to Middle East

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Syria, Iran defend strong ties

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria and Iran defended their strong ties Thursday and dismissed U.S. efforts to break up the 30-year-alliance, saying America should not dictate relationships in the Middle East.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, vowed increased cooperation during a meeting in Damascus and canceled visa restrictions between the countries.

“We hope that others don’t give us lessons about our region and our history,” Assad told reporters when asked about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s comments this week that the U.S. is troubled by Syria’s relationship with Iran. “We are the ones who decide how matters will go and we know our interests. We thank them for their advice.”

Ahmadinejad was more direct, calling for the U.S. to pack up and leave the Middle East.

“(The Americans) want to dominate the region but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that,” he said. “We tell them that instead of interfering in the region’s affairs, to pack their things and leave.”

A string of high-profile visits to Damascus in recent months — from the U.S., France, and now Iran — demonstrates Syria’s strategic importance in the Middle East.

U.S. President Barack Obama is determined to engage with Syria, a country seen as key to peace in the region but which the State Department has long considered a sponsor of terrorism. America’s goals include peeling Syria away from Iran.

Ahmadinejad’s trip comes amid rising U.S. tension with Tehran over the country’s nuclear program. The U.S. and others believe Iran is hiding nuclear weapons development under the guise of a civilian energy program. Iran insists that its intentions are peaceful.

Assad signaled his strong support for Iran, saying America’s stance toward the country “is a new situation of colonialism in the region.”

Still, Assad could be open to a breakthrough with the Americans. He is hoping for help in boosting a weak economy and for American mediation in direct peace talks with Israel — a recognition that he needs U.S. involvement to achieve his top goal of winning the return of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War.

But Secretary of State Clinton said Wednesday that the recent decision to send the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in five years does not mean American concerns about the country have been addressed.

Speaking to lawmakers, Clinton said the nomination of career diplomat Robert Ford is a sign of a “slight opening” with Syria. But she said Washington remains troubled by suspected Syrian support for militant groups in Iraq and elsewhere, interference in Lebanon and Syria’s close relationship with Iran.

Former President George W. Bush withdrew the last U.S. ambassador to Syria in 2005 to protest its actions in Lebanon after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which his supporters blamed on Syria.

Washington also has retained its sanctions on Damascus. The sanctions were first imposed by Bush and renewed by Obama in May.

AP Writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.