TEHRAN - Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior foreign policy advisor to the Leader, said on Tuesday that Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina should expand their relations and level of interaction.

Velayati made the remarks during a meeting with President of the Bosnian House of Senate Safet Softic in Tehran.

He said the Bosnian official’s visit to Tehran indicates the country’s determination to expand ties with Iran.

Velayati was Iran’s foreign minister during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war during which hardline Serbs committed war crimes against Bosnian people.

“Iran and Bosnia have long background of cooperation and the Iranian people stood beside the Bosnian people and government” during the Balkan war, Velayati remarked.

Commenting on the developments in Syria, he said, “The cooperation between Iran and Russia have led to a new situation” in the region.

For his part, Softic said Iran is the main axis of stability in the crisis-hit Middle East region and expressed hope that the relations between the two countries would be expanded in various spheres.

‘Iran-Russia-Turkey meeting can bring regional peace’

After his talks with the Bosnian official, Velayati told reporters that the trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia, and Turkey on Syria in Moscow on December 20 can result in a peace in Syria.

Iran, Russia, and Turkey issued a joint statement on Tuesday agreeing to try to broker peace talks between Syrian militants and the Syrian government and to expand the ceasefire in Aleppo to other parts of the country.

Velayati also called the murder of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov a “brutal” act, noting such actions are intended to “undermine peace” in the region.

He added such moves should not influence Russia-Turkey relations negatively.

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed in an attack by a gunman in an art gallery on Monday.

NA/PA