Words over actions: Iran's FM seeks to drum up support for Assad regime in Middle East - analysis

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been paying lip service to supporting the Syrian regime as it rapidly loses ground to rebel groups. Recently the Iranian diplomat met with the foreign ministers of Syria and Iraq and discussed supporting the Syrian government.

During meetings in Iraq, Tehran said Syria was fighting “Takfiri-terrorist groups.” This is the term Iran uses to describe extremist groups such as ISIS.

The Iranian top diplomat flew to Qatar after Iraq. 

“The first message is to support the government and nation of Syria in their fight against terrorist-Takfiri groups,” Araghchi said on Friday, while accusing the US and Israel of being behind the rebel advances in Syria. “Today we had good meetings in Baghdad and we reviewed bilateral issues between the two countries, and the developments in Syria were particularly discussed.”

All words and no action

The meetings in Syria didn’t seem to achieve much. The Iranian foreign minister has also been to Syria and Turkey in the last week but he hasn’t appeared to help the regime shore up its prospects. 

Araghchi has arrived in the Qatari capital to attend the Doha Forum 2024 and hold talks on Syria.

In Qatar, the Iranian foreign minister will meet with the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers. “Araghchi’s talks with his Turkish and Russian counterparts will be held within the framework of the Astana process which was launched in 2017 with the aim of finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria. The upcoming talks are significant amid the resurgence of terrorist groups in Syria,” Iranian state media said.

At the same time, the deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Russia have held a meeting to discuss the ties between their countries.

“Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi met with deputies of Russia’s foreign minister, Andrey Rudenko and Sergei Ryabkov, in Moscow on Friday,” Iranian state media said.

The two officials also discussed BRICS, the economic group that Iran has recently joined and which included Russia and China.

“The two sides exchanged views on contributing to international peace and security in unstable conditions, amid efforts by some countries to fuel the instability with unilateral actions that are contrary to international law, human rights, and humanitarian law,” Iran’s IRNA state media said.

Iran appears to think that diplomatic discussions are enough to shore up the Syrian regime. In the absence of success there, Iran assumes its ties with Russia will be of increasing importance. This is because if the Syrian regime falls then Russia will need Iran even more.