Iran ready to help UN solve Mideast crises: Leader's aide

A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran is ready to help the United Nations solve the ongoing crises in the Middle East.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to help the United Nations alleviate the suffering of people in the crisis-hit countries through whatever means and approaches,” the Leader’s aide on international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, said in a meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’Brien in Tehran on Sunday.

Velayati and O’Brien exchanged views on the last regional developments, particularly the crises in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, and ways to dispatch humanitarian aid to people in these countries.

The Iranian official stated that Iran is doing its utmost efforts to settle regional crises through peaceful approaches.

Velayati, who is also the president of the Center for Strategic Research of Iran's Expediency Council, further pointed to the latest developments in Iraq and said Iran has always stressed the importance of avoiding violence as much as possible and taking peaceful steps to resolve the crisis in the war-stricken country.

“We regard the military approach as the last solution to such conflicts,” the senior Iranian official pointed out.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive there more than two years ago. The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

According to a recent report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), a total of 691 Iraqis lost their lives in August and 1,016 others were injured.

The UN mission added that there were 473 civilians among those killed, while the number of civilian injuries hit 813. Violence also claimed the lives of 218 members of the Iraqi security forces, and 203 others sustained injuries.

In the meeting with Velayati, the senior UN official said the world body respects Iran’s stance on the necessity of sending humanitarian aid to many crisis-affected people in the region.

He expressed hope the UN would succeed in helping war-hit countries.

O’Brien arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit to hold meetings with a number of Iranian officials, with the main focus of their talks being the promotion of partnership between Iran and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Earlier in the day, he met with Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli.

The official visit comes at a time when several countries in the Middle East are gripped by deadly conflicts with many of their citizens in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

According to a recent report by ReliefWeb, a news portal administered by OCHA, O’Brien’s trip to Tehran could be an opportunity to draw attention to the Islamic Republic’s considerable experience and expertise in disaster management and humanitarian response.

The visit is also aimed at encouraging Iranian authorities to continue to alleviate the sufferings of violence-stricken people in the Middle East, the report said.

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