Iran’s top diplomat said it was too early to judge Syria’s future as many developments could impact the country, after his counterpart in Syria’s fledgling government sharply criticized Tehran.
“I think it is too early to judge at this time, both for us and for those who believe that victories have been won in Syria,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said with a smile in a short clip of an interview, which was posted on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
The comments came after Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani told Iran it must respect the will of the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty and security.
“We warn them about the spread of chaos in Syria and hold them responsible for the impact of recent statements,” he said, but did not specify the remarks he was referring to.
Araghchi led Iran’s diplomatic response after the ouster of long-time Tehran ally Bashar al-Assad, which included expressing his willingness to maintain bilateral ties while stressing that doing so would have serious implications depend on the country’s position towards Israel.
But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has described events in Syria as a ploy by the United States and Israel – with support from neighboring Turkiye – has used harsher language.
“Syrian youth have nothing to lose. Their universities, schools, homes and lives are not safe,” he said in a speech earlier this week.
“What can they do? They must stand with firm determination against those who orchestrated and created this insecurity and, God willing, they will defeat them.”
The Iranian leader also said that the U.S. goal in “dominating” countries is to either establish a regime with which it can cooperate or to unleash “chaos and unrest.” Khamenei said events in Syria led to the latter.
Iran spent tens of billions of dollars, especially during the decades-long Syrian civil war, to keep the Assad government in office with help from Russia. The Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” has lost one of its members and one crucial ground supply route for Hezbollah through Syria with the overthrow of the al-Assad dynasty.
Khamenei said Iran was paying back Syria in part because Hafez al-Assad, the ousted president’s father, helped Iran invade neighboring Iraq in the 1980s by cutting off a key Iraqi oil pipeline.
Iran and the region have also made significant progress by fighting in Syria to push back ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups, Iran’s supreme leader stressed.
According to unconfirmed reports, Syria may be planning to sue Iran for billions of dollars in damages in international courts.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters that claims that Syria owes Iran $50 billion were “exaggerated,” but added that all existing debts would be transferred to the new one based on the principle of state succession leadership of the country would be transferred.
In addition to its investments to support a presence in Syria, Iran also supplied crude oil to the al-Assad government. Oil exports have now stopped, and the last oil tanker made a U-turn towards Iran on the day it fell.
Internal reorganization and external connections
This is why the new Syrian government’s hardened attitude towards Tehran comes from this Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaaalso named Abu Mohammed al-Julani, and others have met with senior international officials – including from the United States, the European Union, Turkey and Iran’s Arab neighbors – and reopened embassies.
Syria’s de facto leader reached an agreement with rebel groups on Tuesday come together as one force is subordinate to the country’s Ministry of Defense. Prominent HTS commander Murhaf Abu Qasra was appointed defense minister.
But the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the were pushed back by Turkish-backed forces from some northeastern parts of Syria is not part of the deal.
Syria’s interim prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week the ministry would be restructured by using former rebel groups and officers who defected from al-Assad’s army.
Meanwhile, other elements of al-Assad’s forces are being persecuted by Syria’s new governors, with al-Sharaa saying in a statement that those who killed or tortured Syrians in the past would not be spared.
An unnamed former al-Assad loyalist was reportedly killed in the al-Qadam district of Damascus earlier this week.
Videos circulating online show armed fighters pledging to fight the Alawites, a Shiite religious minority from which the al-Assad family hails and based primarily in Latakia and Tartus on the Syrian coast.
