ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Tehran’s foreign ministry accused the United States and Israel of having a master plan for the Middle East after a Washington official said there will be no place for Iran in the new Syria.
“The developments in Syria can be analyzed from two angles. One angle is the big project of the US and the Israeli regime for the region, and anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Egyptian media al-Ghad on Friday.
“The American-Israeli project is to weaken all countries in the region, which is an attempt to eliminate any resistance against the Zionist regime,” he said.
That same day, Barbara Leaf, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said “Iran will have no role” in Syria. She spoke during a press briefing after meeting the new Syrian authorities in Damascus.
Araghchi said the second possible way to view developments in Syria is as an internal affair between the government and its own people.
Iran was a staunch supporter of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, which was ousted by a coalition of rebel groups spearheaded by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 8.
Araghchi said that Iran's presence in the country was solely at the request of the Syrian government. He also noted that Tehran did not interfere in Assad’s decision to flee the country.
