Assad, in Taped TV Interview, Calls Iran a Wise Friend TEHRAN - President Bashar al-Assad of Syria thanked Iran as one of the "wise governments" seeking to protect Syrian stability in the face of the uprising against him, he said in a taped interview broadcast Thursday on Iranian state television. Mr. Assad, who has rarely granted interviews since the uprising began 16 months ago, also said in the interview, taped in Damascus last week, that he bore no hostility to Turkey despite its support of the Syrian insurgency. "We will not retaliate against Turkey," Mr. Assad said. But the interview was conducted before a number of notable developments in the Syria conflict - particularly a worsening of Syria's relations with Turkey last Friday, when Syrian gunners shot down a Turkish fighter jet off the Mediterranean coast. Turkey has since issued warnings to Syrian forces and has moved batteries of antiaircraft weapons to its side of their shared 550-mile border. "We highly appreciate the realistic stance of an important regional country such as Iran," Mr. Assad said. As long as Syria's stability is important for the stability in the region and the world, wise governments should spare no effort to safeguard Syria's stability. He also said "Iran plays an important role because the people of Iran live in the same region and they know the region better than distant countries do." Iran is Syria's only regional ally and has been accused by Western powers of furnishing weapons, money and training to the Syrian security forces who have been engaged in a harsh repression of the political opposition in Syria. There was no explanation from Iran as to why it had delayed broadcasting the interview with Mr. Assad, who repeated the assertion he has made throughout the conflict that the insurgents seeking to topple him are foreign-backed terrorists and that he blames them for subverting the peace plan created by Kofi Annan, the special envoy from the United Nations and Arab League. The interview was also conducted before Iran was excluded by Mr. Annan from a group of countries that will convene in Geneva this weekend to talk about ways to reinvigorate his plan, which has been paralyzed since he first announced it in April. Mr. Annan had wanted Iran to participate but the United States and its allies strongly objected.