Iran’s supreme leader dismissed on Sunday the chances of foreign countries bartering a deal over Syria’s future, suggesting they should focus on securing a halt to fighting that allows fresh elections. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also repeated his ban on direct talks with the United States about turmoil in the Middle East, saying US objectives in the region were “utterly at odds” with Iranian policy. The comments, to Iran’s ambassadors and other top diplomats, were Khamenei’s first since his country joined international negotiations on the four-year Syrian conflict. He said Syria’s people must choose who their leader would be, rather than the US and other foreign powers trying to decide for them.
“The Americans seek to impose their own interests, not solve problems. They want to impose 60-70 percent of their will,” he said, alluding to the peace talks which took place Friday in Vienna. A number of major powers met in Vienna to try and chart a course towards ending violence in the Levant. While the Americans, Russians, Saudis and Turks have been part of earlier peace efforts, the recent meeting significantly featured Iran at the table. Little of substance was achieved at the meeting, yet the fact that global and regional powers that have been backing opposing sides in Syria chose to discuss the issue with each other is indeed positive. In the meantime, caught between the regime, the opposition and the ruthless, self-styled Islamic State, the Syrian people have had to face an extended nightmare. The fact that Barack Obama has authorised the deployment of US ground troops in Syria will further complicate matters; Russia has already reacted negatively to this. All parties need to make these proposals succeed. Russia and Iran must not make Mr Assad sacrosanct, while the US and the Gulf Arabs must not insist on regime change on their terms. The announcement that America is to field less than 50 special forces advisers to anti-Assad Kurdish forces fighting in the north of the country was made at the same time as the meeting in Vienna was drawing to a close. That was no accident. Jaw-jaw and war-war are to continue in parallel, by no means uncommon diplomatically, and there is a forum where none existed before. We wish this infant process well because too many have suffered for too long.
