BEIRUT — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Syria's crisis could not be solved by military means and he called for a national accord leading to elections.

"War is not the solution.. . . A government that rules through war —  its work will be very difficult. A sectarian war should not be launched in Syria," he told Al Mayadeen television.

"We believe that [deciding] whoever stays or goes is the right of the Syrian people," Ahmadinejad said. "How can we interfere in that? We must strive to achieve national understanding, and free elections."