What is Iran signalling since the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad?

A stalwart Assad ally for decades, Iran has to decide how it will approach the new Syria.

Tehran, Iran – Iran says it wants to maintain relations with Syria after the fall of major ally Bashar al-Assad, but that opposition groups’ approach towards Israel would be crucial.

Tehran has not commented on reports that it has established a direct line of dialogue with the armed groups that toppled Syria’s ruling family, which was allied with Iran for more than 40 years.

On Tuesday, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani called for “respect for Syria’s territorial integrity” and said the Syrian people should decide their own fate.

Concerning Iran’s future relations with Syria, she said, “their distance from the Zionist regime” would be an important deciding factor.

Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting in the parliament on Tuesday that no Iranian forces currently remain in Syria.