Iran should step up its diplomatic efforts and engage with a wider range of influential actors to be able to reap the benefits of its long-running campaign against terrorists in war-ravaged Syria, says a former diplomat.
"We need to get involved more seriously in the political process aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis by increasing our diplomatic efforts and interacting with more players, including the European Union and regional stakeholders," Nasrollah Tajik told ILNA in an interview.
The Islamic Republic should not tie its fate in Syria to Russia, he stressed. "Iran is acting alone in the field in Syria. The Russians have their own reservations and pursue their own interests -- just as Iran does."
Iran and Russia, at the request of the government in Damascus, came to the Arab nation’s help in defeating a foreign-backed militancy. Moscow’s support has been mainly through air cover for Syrian forces while Tehran’s role is more focused on coordinating affairs on the ground.
The two countries, plus Turkey, which is supporting the Syrian opposition groups, are also leading the peace efforts, known as the Astana Peace Process, to end the seven-year civil strife.
US Obstructionism
The former ambassador to Jordan maintains that Iran’s diplomacy in Syria should engage more players via workable plans as the United States and its regional allies, particularly Israel, do not want Tehran to benefit from the new environment in Syria after the systemic losses and defeat of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, known as Daesh in Arabic.
Manufactured Crises
He believes that recent attacks against Syria carried out by Israel as well as Washington and allied forces were intended to "keep Iran busy" with a manufactured crises on a continual basis.
In the biggest intervention yet in the Syrian conflict by western powers, US, British and French forces launched more than 100 missiles at storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs last month in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by government forces -- a claim dismissed by Damascus.
Israel has also reportedly hit several targets in Syria over the past weeks, though it rarely acknowledges such strikes.
The expert added that the mounting pressure on Iran over its foreign policy is meant to undermine its diplomatic apparatus and extract more concessions from Tehran.
"Such pressures are increasing because they want to convey to all that Iran is to blame for the current situation in the region, while Iran has been fighting against international terrorism in good faith and through a legitimate presence at the request of Syria's legal government and has paid the price," Tajik noted.
