TEHRAN - Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has said that the destiny of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is Iran’s redline, because he has been elected by the Syrian people.

The Syrian people should determine their destiny and no foreign country can decide for the Syrians, Velayati said in a televised program aired on Saturday.

“Bashar al-Assad is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s red line because he was elected president by the Syrian people,” said Velayati who served as Iran’s foreign minister from 1981 to 1997.

“The Syrian people must decide their own fate, and nobody outside Syria’s borders can choose for the Syrian people.”

He said that if Iran had not helped the Syrian government, it would have been toppled.

Iran will not leave Syria alone in the political arena and in defending the country’s territorial integrity, Velayati said.

To reiterate Iran’s support for Syria in the fight against terrorists Velayati visited Damascus on November 29 to hold talks with Assad.

Velayati predicted that other countries, even the big powers, will join the resistance movement against terrorists in the near future.

He also said Iran is duty bound to ease the tension between Russia and Turkey.

“Iran has the duty to reduce tension between the countries of Russia and Turkey and it is not expedient that another tension be added to other tensions,” the veteran politician noted.

The downing of the Russian fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border by Turkey on November 24 has led to a war of words between the officials in Moscow and Ankara.

Elsewhere, he said that Russia is making efforts to coordinate fight against terrorism in Syria with Iran.

Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by a crisis which has left over 250,000 people dead.

On reports by media outlets that General Qassem Soleimani, the chief of Quds Force of the IRGC, had visited Russian and met with President Vladimir Putin, Velayati said the visit of a “great general” like Soleimani to Russia and “coordinating” efforts with Kremlin officials for “consolidating the growing unity between Iran, Russia and regional countries is quite normal.”

He added Soleimani’s visit with officials from Russia is something “quite expected and predictable and its dimensions is much bigger than” what the public knows.

NA/PA