Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said US and Arab airstrikes against the group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) in Syria “do not have any legal standing,” but refrained from endorsing Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad by name, referring instead to the need to work with Syria’s “central government” against terrorism.
Speaking to a group of senior news executives and correspondents Sept. 23 in his first major appearance at the United Nations this year, Rouhani also expressed optimism about the chances for a long-term nuclear agreement and said that relations between the United States and Iran “will be completely different” if such an agreement can be reached.
