Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Does Not Think Assad is on the Brink of Defeat

Says the Syrian Army is working "smoothly "

(Reuters) – Iran does not believe Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government are about to fall, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday.

Asked after talks in Moscow about Western suggestions that Assad and his government might soon be ousted, he told Reuters through a translator: "We have serious doubts about that. The Syrian army and the state machine are working smoothly."