Tehran: The Iranian Foreign Ministry has slammed the US for its "interventionist" stance towards Syria.

The US "hostile" policies against the countries of the region is nothing new, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on Wednesday, warning the US government against any "foolish" action on Syria, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Should America insist on such policies, the nations of the region will react and show that they won't accept foreign presence in their region," Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tehran Times.

US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said on Monday that Washington was ready to unilaterally "act" against Syria, just as it did last year when it bombed a Syrian government air base.

Her remarks followed the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government against its people.

Unlike the US-led coalition, Iran is present in Syria upon the official request of Damascus to help the country fight terrorism, said Qasemi.

"We hope peace returns to Syria through diplomacy," he said.

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Shimla (PTI): A delegation of the Himachal Congress Minority Morcha apprised the party's central leaders on Thursday of the atmosphere of fear created in the state by targeting a particular community and staging demonstrations near mosques.

The delegation led by Iqbal Mohammad, president of the state Congress Minority Morcha, also comprised imams of various mosques. It met with Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and its Minority Morcha national president Imran Pratapgarhi in New Delhi.

In a statement here, the state Congress Minority Morcha said the situation has become tense due to demonstrations by Hindu outfits in front of mosques and efforts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere and instill fear among Muslims.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is trying to take people of all religions along but some elements are trying to spoil the atmosphere and malign the government, it added.

According to the statement, Venugopal spoke to the chief minister over the phone over the issue.

Ten people were injured during a protest demanding the demolition of a portion of a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area last week. In Mandi, police used water cannons on protestors demanding the demolition of an unauthorised portion of a mosque in the town.

On Tuesday, residents of Kasumpti in Shimla submitted a memorandum to demolish a mosque in the area and similar demands are also coming in from Sunni and other areas in the state.

A dispute between a barber from the minority community and a local businessman in the Malyana area in the suburbs of Shimla on August 30 turned into a communal issue with Hindu groups demanding the demolition of unauthorised mosques and residents calling for the identification and verification of outsiders coming in the state.