Iran says Syria’s future unclear after foreign minister hits back

Iran’s top diplomat has said it is too soon to judge Syria’s future as many developments could affect it after his counterpart in the fledgling Syrian government heavily criticised Tehran.

“I think it is currently too soon to judge, both for us and for those others who think victories were won in Syria,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said with a smile in a short clip of an interview released on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

The comments came after Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani told Iran it must respect the will of the Syrian people and the country’s sovereignty and security.

“We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them responsible for the repercussions of the latest remarks,” he said, but did not specify the remarks he was referring to.

Araghchi has led Iran’s diplomatic response in the aftermath of the fall of longtime Tehran ally Bashar al-Assad, which has consisted of expressing a willingness to maintain bilateral relations while caveating that that would heavily depend on the country’s position concerning Israel.

“The Syrian youth have nothing to lose. Their universities, schools, homes and lives are not safe,” he said in a speech earlier this week.

“What can they do? They must stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and brought about this insecurity and God willing, they will prevail over them.”

The Iranian leader also said the US design to “dominate” countries consists of either establishing a regime with which they can work or “chaos and riots”. Syria’s events, Khamenei said, led to the latter.