Iran’s Deputy FM Hails Syria Vote Said as "No to Terrorism"

(Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Middle Eastern Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian hailed the recent presidential election in Syria as the nation’s support for the promotion of democracy and rejection of terrorism.

Resistant and wise Syrian nation said yes to democracy, but no to terrorism in their presidential election, said the senior Iranian diplomat on Thursday.

"Syrian nation`s landslide vote in favor of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad was a vote aimed at safeguarding their country`s territorial integrity, independence, and political legitimacy as an important country in the resistance axis," Amir Abdollahian reiterated.

In a message to President Assad, the Iranian diplomat also congratulated him on his victory in the elections.

He emphasized that the legitimate Syrian dissidents should separate their way from the Takfiri and terrorist groups, return to the embrace of the Syrian nation and participate in the process of their country`s political and national reconciliation process.

Assad won a landslide victory in the June 3 presidential poll with 88.7 percent of the vote, securing another seven-year term.

A total of 10.2 million people voted for Assad. The voter turnout stood at 73.42 percent. Meantime, Syria’s Higher Judicial Committee for Elections stated that no violations have been reported during the polls.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. The UN says more than 130,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the unrest in 2011. More than 2.2 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries while an estimated 4.25 million have been displaced internally.

It recently warned against the humanitarian situation in Syria, saying that over nine million people are in need of urgent aid due to the crisis in the Middle Eastern country.