Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says U.S. efforts to push Iranian military advisers and fighters out of Syria as part of a deal to end the war-torn country’s six-year civil war will not succeed.
“The aim of the U.S. administration is to get Iran out of Syria,” Zarif said on November 30 at a conference in Rome.
“The U.S. and Russia cannot decide for Iran. We are there at the request of the Syrian government,” Zarif said. “It’s our region. It’s the Persian Gulf, not the Gulf of Mexico. We are going nowhere.”
The U.S. push for Iran’s withdrawal from Syria, which U.S. officials have stated as one of their goals in backing Syrian peace negotiations sponsored by the United Nations, has gathered support from key U.S. allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Russia is also Syria’s ally and has strongly supported Iran’s presence there. But U.S. officials may hope to win Russian support for an Iranian troop withdrawal as part of any universally agreed settlement in Syria.
Source » rferl