TEHRAN – Several Iranian officials have expressed sympathy with the people and government of Syria over the passing of Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.

In a message addressed to Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic Hossein Arnous, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed condolences on the passing of Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday morning.

“I received the news of the passing of the late Walid al-Muallem, Syria’s Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and with great regret and sadness,” Zarif said in the message, offering his condolences to Arnous, the family of the late foreign minister, and his colleagues in the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Zarif praised al-Muallem’s role in serving his country, saying that the late foreign minister “played important role in serving and defending the national interests and security of Syria.”

Al-Muallem served in many positions, including as Syria’s top diplomat since 2006 while also serving as the country's deputy prime minister since 2012. He was appointed as Syria’s ambassador to the United States from 1990 to 1999. The late foreign minister also wrote several books on Syria and the broader West Asia. His books are as follows: Palestine and Armed Peace in 1970, Syria in the Mandate Period from 1917 to 1948, Syria from Independence to Unity from 1948 to 1958, and The World and the Middle East [West Asia] from the American Perspective.

He was married and is survived by three children.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the special aide to the speaker of the Iranian Parliament on international affairs, described al-Muallem as “the loud voice of Syrian diplomacy.”

“The late Mr. Walid Al-Muallem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria was the loud voice of Syrian diplomacy in the face of the instigators of terrorism and Zionism in this country and the region,” the special aide said in a tweet on Monday.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on international affairs, also issued a statement offering condolences on the passing of al-Muallem.

“Working for many years in various positions in the field of defending the interests of the Syrian government and people, he was a clear example of standing up and fighting against the bullying, hostilities, and crimes of terrorist and takfiri groups and their Western, Arab and Hebrew supporters,” Velayati said of al-Muallem. “He confronted and opposed the disgraceful deal of Camp David within the front of the resistance in the Arab world, and then joined the resistance front, and until the end of his life, he stood firm and remained committed to fulfilling the covenant he had made in this direction. He will always be greatly remembered by the resistant people of Syria.”

Velayati also pointed to his friendship with al-Muallem, saying that his friendship with the late foreign minister dates back to the early years of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

The Leader’s advisor said their friendship continued and deepened during Syria’s recent tough and complicated years.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday that Syria’s Presidency of the Cabinet and the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry have mourned the death of Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem who passed away on Monday at dawn.