Chavez considers joining Iran to help resolve Syrian crisis

DHAKA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal supporter of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, will evaluate a proposal to join a team of non-aligned nations to solve the crisis in Syria he believes is the fault of the United States.

Chavez said he will look at the proposal by Iran late last month to form a group with other non-aligned countries like Venezuela, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq that would try to end the bloodshed.

Tehran Times publishes the report Saturday.

‘We’re going to evaluate the proposal and hopefully we can somehow help to achieve peace in Syria, whose people are being run over by this imperialist, violent politics,’ Chavez said at a news conference.

‘From here I send my greetings to President Bashar Assad and the Syrian people who are resisting an imperialist aggression.’

Chavez, a fierce critic of the US government, has accused Washington of stirring up violence in Syria similar to the fighting in Libya that brought the ouster and killing of his ally Muammar Gaddafi.

Venezuela’s government says the conflict in Syria should be resolved peacefully without foreign intervention.

BDST: 1914 HRS, SEP 15, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor