Iranian FM meets with Syria's Assad

FM Manouchehr Mottaki: "Developments in the area require deliberations."

mottakikhatib298 88 (photo credit: AP)
mottakikhatib298 88
(photo credit: AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus on Thursday. The meeting was not planned, and upon his arrival, the Iranian foreign minister said, "Developments in the area require deliberations," Israel Radio reported. Mottaki was in Jordan Wednesday for talks expected to focus on his country's nuclear program, Iraq and Mideast peacemaking. The Iranian foreign minister went into a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart, Abdul-Illah al-Khatib, shortly after his arrival in the Jordanian capital for a brief visit. Their meeting was to focus on bilateral relations and regional issues, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said. The ministers were also expected to discuss Jordan's tense relations with Hamas over the discovery of an arms cache in the kingdom, including Iranian-made Katyusha rockets. Amman has said the arms, discovered April 18, were to be used in attacks against Jordanian public institutions and officials.