Russia's upper house of parliament approved earlier in the day the use of Russia's Air Force in Syria, following a request by Syrian President Bashar Assad. Asked whether Iran positively assessed Russia's moves to combat the Islamic State, Zarif told Sputnik that any development against ISIS is "important." "It is important. It will move people to decide about the real political solution, so it [the war] comes to its end," the Iranian minister said of the airstrikes. Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced Tehran's support for the Russian military campaign against terrorists in Syria. "A genuine and fundamental fight against terrorism as a common threat against regional and global peace and security is a necessity," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Thursday. "The realization of this objective requires serious will and determination and joint international action based on cooperation with the governments of Iraq and Syria," she added. "With regards to the official request by the Syrian government from the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers Russia's military action against armed terrorist groups in Syria as a step toward the fight on terrorism and the resolution of the ongoing crisis that has resulted from it (terrorism)," she said. Russia's airstrikes against the militants in Syria officially began on Wednesday, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the green light to use military force in the Arab country, an ally of Moscow. The first airstrikes were carried out 213 kilometers (132 miles) north of the Syrian capital, Damascus, near the city of Hama by two Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft, according to Russia's Rossiya 24 channel. Commenting on the raids, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would be open to having "standing channels of communication" with the US-led coalition, which has been attacking purported positions of Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq for more than a year now. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy and a terror campaign by Daesh for over four years; IRNA reported.
