In response to the recent remarks made by the US State Secretary John Kerry in which he stated that in the end the US will have to negotiate with Bashar Assad, president of Syria noted:
"We are still listening to the comments and we have to wait for the actions and then we'll decide. We have no choice but to defend our country. Any international changes that come about within that framework are something positive, if they are honest and have an effect on the ground, " the Syrian leader told Iranian television in remarks carried by Syrian state media, the Daily Star reports.
Although the remarks of John Kerry were quickly clarified by his spokesman, who stated that Washington's policy was unchanged and Assad had no role in Syria's future, the words of Kerry were interpreted as a reversal of U.S. policy by the media in Syria.