VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the Vatican on Tuesday and urged Tehran to work with other Middle East states to promote peace and stop the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking in the region.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran is the strongest ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Western countries back his mainly Sunni Muslim opponents in the five-year-old civil war.

Many Western nations also accuse Iran of funding various militant groups which they deem to be terrorist organizations. MORE