Annan to visit Iran to discuss Syria

 The UN-Arab League joint envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, is to pay an official visit to Iran next week for talks with senior Iranian officials on Syria, says his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi.


“Mr. Annan will be visiting Tehran on the 11th (of April)," Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva on Thursday, AFP reported. 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters in March that Tehran was optimistic that Annan’s mission in Syria would help resolve the Syrian crisis. 

“We are optimistic about Kofi Annan’s mission in Syria and we think that support from Arabs, Turkey, and the UN for Kofi Annan’s mission will help solving the crisis in Syria,” he added. 

Annan has proposed a six-point plan to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the resolution of the turmoil in Syria. 

The plan, among other things, calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from population centers and a ceasefire between the government and the opposition. 

Syria has been the scene of unrest since mid-March, 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of Assad's government. 

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.