“What is currently going on in Syria as an important country in the region is a threat which would pose a serious challenge to calm and security in the entire region,” Salehi said in a Tuesday address to the international Islamic Awakening and Ulama Conference in Tehran.

“Since the very beginning of the crisis in Syria, the Islamic Republic of Iran called for an end to the conflict and the restoration of calm in this country, and has supported democracy and increased people’s role in political and social decision-making,” he added.

The Iranian foreign minister expressed regret that certain governments have supplied weapons to armed groups to massacre people in Syria.

Salehi further stressed that the Islamic Republic opposes any foreign intervention in Syria.

The Iranian minister called on the participants in the conference to “prepare the necessary grounds for the beginning of broad-based dialogue between the [Syrian] government and the opposition and persuading both parties to [join] these dialogue.”

Syria has been gripped by a deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government security forces and army personnel, have been killed in the violence.

Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.