Iran’s Role in Prolonging Syrian War

On February 5, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that “certain countries are worried about the weakening of terrorist groups in Syria.” Shamkhani made the remarks after his meeting with visiting Russian president's Special Envoy for Syrian Affairs, Alexander Lavrentiev. Shamkhani and Lavrentiev praised the latest Syrian peace talks held in Astana and which were brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran.

The reference to “certain countries” was no doubt aimed at those states – including the United States – that consider the regime of Bashar al-Assad to be part of the problem and not the solution to ending of the Syrian conflict. Such Iranian intransigence as expressed by Shamkhani comes on the back of repeated statements by officials in Tehran that Iran is committed to a “political solution” to bring about the end of the Syrian war.

And yet it is clear that Iran’s idea of a political settlement is only pertinent to political actors in Syria that Tehran deems suitable for a negotiated settlement. This is a highly unlikely scenario and such unhelpful posturing by Tehran is no doubt a factor that is contributing to the prolonging of the Syrian war. And there is little sign that the Iranians are willing to reconsider their Syria policy. 

If anything, there seems to be a rush in Tehran to exploit the arrival of the Trump administration as a pretext to double-down in backing the Assad regime. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a hardline member of the Iranian parliament and the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Council, in reference to the latest US sanctions imposed on Tehran, said that Washington is frustrated because American dollars have gone to waste with Iran's advisory presence in Syria and Iraq. In other words, Iran's commitment to a political settlement in Syria is directly tied to its overall geopolitical aims in the region and shaped by its rivalry with the United States.