A senior advisor to the Iranian foreign minister has said that there will be no solution in Syria without Tehran. His country is involved in all issues related to the Syrian crisis, added Ali Asghar Khaji.

None of the platforms formed to solve the Syrian crisis, whether in Geneva or elsewhere, can play a significant role in helping to resolve the issue, he insisted. “The Astana process is the only one that has played its role, achieved positive successes and is ongoing.”

This, said Khaji, is because the Astana format is the most successful, compared with other tracks. “From the beginning, though, some countries were against the process, but it still has its function and role. Moreover, the Astana summit in Tehran played a very important part in keeping Turkiye away from military action.”

Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad said recently during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian that his regime will not move forward in dialogue with Turkiye unless the goal is to “end the [Turkish] occupation and stop supporting terrorist organisations.”

Assad added that for the meetings with Turkiye to be fruitful, they must be based on prior coordination and planning between the Syrian regime and Russia. His conditions for normalisation of relations are ending the occupation and stopping support for terrorism.

The defence ministers of Turkiye, Russia and Syria met recently in Moscow. The meeting was followed by massive demonstrations in northern Syria rejecting reconciliation with the Assad regime.