Iran backs Syria meeting plan, expects to be part of process

 (MNA) – Iran welcomes a U.S.-Russian proposal for an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh said in Geneva.
“We hope that the coming meeting would also be in Geneva and the Islamic Republic of Iran would be more than happy and pleased to assist in whatever way that it can, and we expect to be part of the process to restore peace and a better livelihood to the people of Syria,” he told Reuters through an interpreter.

Russia and the United States agreed at talks on Tuesday to try to arrange the conference, possibly by the end of this month.

The United Nations in Geneva hosted a meeting on Syria in June 2012. No venue has been confirmed but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has talked of a “Geneva two” meeting.

“We are very much in harmony with the belief that the only solution would be a Syrian-Syrian solution for the future through diplomatic and political dialogues,” said Mohammadizadeh, who was in Switzerland for an environmental conference.

Iran’s nuclear sites safe from earthquakes and cyber threat

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mohammadizadeh, also Iran’s environmental protection chief, said that Iran’s nuclear and hydropower facilities were well protected from cyber attacks and even the most powerful earthquakes.

Iran’s only nuclear power reactor at Bushehr was unscathed when a strong earthquake that killed 37 people and injured about 900 hit close to the site last month, Iranian officials and the Russian company that built it said.

“Most of the energy producing utilities - including all our power plants, being hydropower or even nuclear - they do comply with the minimum of 8, up to about 10, on the Richter scale for resistance to earthquakes,” Mohammadizadeh said.

“The highest known levels of safety and environmental standards have always been observed and incorporated during construction and after the commissioning phase” he said, speaking during an interview at the Iranian diplomatic mission in Geneva.

He also said Iran was aware of the risks from earthquakes and landslides, which he said applied equally to its hydropower dams.

“Some of the dams we have well over 3 billion cubic meters of water right behind the dam. Imagine what kind of catastrophe a leakage or destruction of the dam could impose,” he said.

Besides the threat of natural disasters, Mohammadizadeh said Iran’s defenses against cyber attacks were as good as any country’s and its facilities were well guarded.

“Obviously we have very well managed to protect ourselves from such cyber attacks in not only nuclear facilities and establishments for nuclear power production but also oil and gas and also hydropower as well as the banking network and we have very well protected our system and our information,” he said.

“We have developed locally the knowledge of counteracting such cyber attacks and we have very well mastered it,” he said. “Up to now we have always had success in countering such attacks and we expect to continue to do so.”

The Iranian official likened cybersecurity to protecting one’s health, with a need for preventive and protective steps.

“The issue of protecting against cyber attacks is not in a standstill situation. It will always be on the move and progress further to ensure a safe environment,” he said.