Iran says the Syrian people should decide their country’s future “without destructive, coercive foreign intervention.”

The Foreign Ministry statement issued Sunday marked Iran’s first official reaction to the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, who it had strongly backed through nearly 14 years of civil war.

Assad’s government was a close ally of Iran that served as a crucial conduit between it and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The rebels who toppled Assad view Iran as a hostile foreign influence, and the abandoned Iranian Embassy in Damascus was ransacked as they entered the city.

The Foreign Ministry statement said Iran supports Syria’s unity and national sovereignty, and hopes to see “the end of military conflicts, the prevention of terrorist activities and the start of a national dialogue” with the participation of all groups.

“It is expected that the wise and farsighted relations of the two nations will continue based on mutual ties and interests,” the statement said.