Iran: Syria Needs Time to Make Peace Plan Work

Iran, the main regional ally of Syria, said on Wednesday that Damascus needs more time to make a U.N.-backed plan aimed at ending 15 months of violence work.

"More time should be given to the Syrian government in order to make (U.N.-Arab League envoy) Kofi Annan's plan a success," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

"Other countries, particularly those in the region, should help the application of the Annan plan because otherwise the region will face serious problems... in case of a (power) vacuum," Salehi said.

The minister did not name any countries, but was clearly alluding to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which on Monday warned Annan's peace efforts appeared to be failing.

Salehi added that Syria's government had undertaken "positive steps to implement reforms, including amending the constitution and organizing elections" on May 7.

Iran supports President Bashar Assad's regime and regularly denounces the interference of Western and some Arab states, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have called for regime change in Syria.

Bloodshed has been reported on a daily basis despite a month-old ceasefire brokered by Annan as part of a plan aimed at ending the violence that has swept Syria since March 2011 when a popular revolt erupted against Assad's regime.

Part of the plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 U.N. military observers. By Tuesday, more than 200 U.N. observers were on the ground, said the mission's chief, Major General Robert Mood.

More than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the Syrian uprising began, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, including more than 900 killed since the truce came into effect on April 12.