Iran talking 'indirectly' to new Syrian regime

Tehran says Qatar and Turkey are acting as mediators with government that toppled its ally Al Assad

Lorries carry displaced families back to their village after more than five years in the Atmeh camps near the Syrian-Turkish border, in Kafr Sijna, south of the Syrian city of Idlib. AP

Iran says it has opened “indirect” communications with the new regime in Syria that toppled its ally Bashar Al Assad in December.

Tehran is using Turkey and Qatar as go-betweens to put its points of view to authorities in Damascus, but is “not in a hurry” to resume full diplomatic relations, said a senior Iranian diplomat working on Syria.

Mohammad Sheibani, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's special envoy for Syrian affairs, said his country was “watching and waiting” to see how the situation develops under President Ahmad Al Shara. Mr Sheibani was appointed to the role in January by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

“We have not had direct contact with Damascus,” he said at the Tehran Dialogue Forum, a conference organised by Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“In reality, what has taken place is indirect communication through our friends and brothers in Turkey and Qatar, and during a trip I made in the region to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, we conveyed our points of view this way. The Syrian side has also sent messages and communications this way.”

Mr Sheibani will also travel to Cairo for more talks on Syria, which “is going through a very sensitive period”, he said.

Assad backer

Alongside Russia, Iran was one of the main backers of Mr Al Assad, who was forced out of Syria by fighters led by former Al Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir Al Sham in December. During Mr Al Assad's rule, Tehran sent military advisers to Syria and set up bases across the country, which were frequently hit in Israeli attacks.

Many Syrians welcomed the collapse of Iran's influence in their country, having opposed the arrival of Tehran-backed militant groups and their co-operation with Mr Al Assad. Foreign analysts believe Iran wanted to use Syria to create a sphere of influence from its territory to the Mediterranean.

Iran was a key backer of Syria's former president Bashar Al Assad. EPA

Iran appears to have accepted Mr Al Assad's fall, however, and is working out how it might deal with new government in Damascus, and perhaps reactivate some of the economic investments it made in the country. Iranian businessmen have told The National that their investments and trade were not as lucrative as hoped.

“As the Islamic Republic of Iran, we are not in a hurry to resume ties with Syria at the moment,” Mr Sheibani said in response to a question from The National at the forum in Tehran. “We are watching and waiting for the appropriate conditions for talks, politically and in terms of security. If these conditions emerge, we could take more steps in this direction.”

Since HTS became the governing force in Syria, Turkey's influence in the country has soared while Iran's has weakened. Mr Sheibani described Syria as “occupied” by Turkish forces, who have long held positions in north-western Syria; the US, which has troops in the north-east; and Israel, which has invaded a UN buffer zone on the occupied Golan Heights since Mr Al Assad's fall.

“Outsiders are making decisions – Syria's rulers cannot make their own decisions,” he said.

Israel has explained its reasons for strikes on Syria by saying it is protecting the Druze, a religious minority mostly spread across Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

Ankara is not occupying Syrian territory, said a former Turkish diplomat, speaking alongside Mr Sheibani in Tehran.

“Turkey has nothing to do with occupation,” said Ali Engin Oba. “The aim is to put an end to the chaotic situation which in the end harms our national interests.”

Iran is closely following developments in Syria, Mr Sheibani said, and is concerned that instability in the country could lead to “growth of terrorism and ISIS”, which he said would threaten not only Syria but the whole region. A stable Syria will be one in which “the whole political spectrum” participates in its politics, he said.

Mr Sheibani also gave more detail about how Iran experienced the beginning of the end of Mr Al Assad's Syria. Iranian diplomats in Damascus were transferred to Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon when the Assad regime fell, he said, and remain there.

The Syrian embassy in Tehran is still functioning, he said. “It is still working, on an order from Damascus, the ambassador is present.”

The regime change in Syria was predictable to some extent, Mr Sheibani believes, and Iran saw that there was a lack of will in Mr Al Assad's army to oppose the HTS-led offensive.

“It was possible to predict that Syria was moving in this direction,” he said. “Of course, our advisers who were in Syria saw it that the Syrian army didn't want to oppose the attack, especially because the Syrian people kind of went along with this movement.”