Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, south of Tehran, Iran, 2008 (Photo: AP)
Iran on Tuesday said foreign interference in Syria would destabilise its principal ally, rejecting claims by the Muslim Brotherhood that Tehran was complicit in a civilian "massacre" there by supplying weapons to Syrian forces.
"We are absolutely not interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, and we consider that the interference of other countries there to be a danger to the security and stability of Syria," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters.
He was reacting to an accusation by Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, which issued a statement on Monday saying: "We consider Russia, China and Iran as direct accomplices to the horrible massacre being carried out against our people."
The three countries were supplying weapons and equipment to President Bashar al-Assad's regime, spokesman Zouheir Salem said in a statement released in London.
According to rights groups, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the unrest that broke out when activists launched a popular uprising in Syria in mid-March.
Russia and China used their veto power last weekend to scupper a UN Security Resolution vote on a draft resolution condemning the Assad regime's bloody crackdown on the uprising.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was to visit Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, said sharp Western criticism of the vetoes was "bordering on hysteria" and reaffirmed that it was wrong to blame Assad's forces alone for the violence.
Mehmanparast hailed Russia and China for having a "sense of responsibility" and countering what he said were moves by Western and Arab countries "to prepare the way for political and military intervention in Syria" to protect Israel.
He said the only solution was to help create "the right atmosphere for talks and reforms in Syria".
Heavy shelling, sporadic machinegun fire and rocket explosions were heard in the central Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday as regime forces and rebels continued their conflict.
Syria's government vowed it would keep hunting "terrorist groups until security and order are re-established in all neighbourhoods of Homs".
Short link: