FNA- Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani stressed that terrorists in Syria have sustained huge damage due to his country's cooperation with Russia in the anti-terrorism efforts.

"Iran and the Russian army's joint cooperation in the war against terrorism in Syria is at the demand of the country's (Syrian) government which has resulted in inflicting heavy damage on the terrorists, separating the armed Syrians from terrorist groups and making peace agreements with them, and this path will continue," Shamkhani said, addressing the 8th annual Moscow Conference on International Security on Wednesday.

He also criticized the UN's weak performance in resolving the regional crises, and called for an end to the failed and dangerous policies of certain governments in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen.

"If political solutions are not pursued for the regional crises and the drums of war are beaten, the national sovereignties will be weakened and a vacuum of sovereignty will be created which will pave a proper ground for terrorists' sleeping cells' relocation to these regions," Shamkhani warned.

His remarks came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the settlement of the crisis in Syria requires the involvement of Iran in this process.

The Russian foreign minister made this statement in reply to a question about how he viewed US President Donald Trump’s latest remarks about Tehran.

As Lavrov said, the solution of problems in the Middle East and North Africa requires the participation of external actors "which influence the situation on the ground in one way or another".

"To a full extent, this also refers to Iran and to what has to be done to settle the Syrian crisis," Lavrov added.

"The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) focuses precisely on the principle of inclusiveness, the principle of involving all external actors, and Iran is in the nucleus of this group," the Russian foreign minister stressed.

"The Astana process is also based on the principle of inclusiveness, considering that Russia, Turkey and Iran have come up with an initiative of a direct inter-Syrian dialogue with the participation of the government and the armed opposition," Lavrov noted.