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Iran: Our Withdrawal from Syria Is Not Considered a Defeat
Iranian authorities continue to approach the new government in Damascus with caution, despite affirming their support for any entity chosen by the Syrian people to govern the country. In this context, the assistant to the ideological and political organization at the Iranian Ministry of Defense, Ali Shirazi, stated that "the enemies' attempts to control Syria will not be a factor in Iran's defeat."
In his statements on Sunday, Shirazi emphasized that "enemies should not think that controlling Syria will lead to the defeat of our country." He added, "If you intend to approach Iran, remember that this is the same people who endured the Iran-Iraq War for eight years, and who came out on December 29 and 30, 2009, to support the revolution and the regime. This people supports the rule of the jurist and does not fear sacrifice and martyrdom," according to local media reports.
Shirazi also addressed what he considered "the role of the Iranian people in confronting internal and external seditions," referring to the protests of 2009 and their impact on the results of the presidential elections known as the Green Movement. He described the government's actions against those protests as "the people's vigilance against the enemies' conspiracies." He added, "The Leader of the Revolution warned years ago about the enemies' plots; in the year preceding the 2009 elections, some media outlets began publishing analyses aimed at polishing the image of symbols of the former regime. The Leader of the Revolution repeated his warnings about the dangers of these movements, while some analysts detected signs of sedition long before it occurred."
The Iranian authorities consider these events a "sedition" led by former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and former speaker of Parliament Mehdi Karroubi, who are still under house arrest.
On another note, it is notable that Iran has lost an important ally since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on December 8, in addition to losing a vital land route for smuggling weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Moreover, Hezbollah, which was considered the "jewel in the crown" of Tehran-affiliated factions in the region, has suffered heavy losses over the past three months due to confrontations with Israel, where Tel Aviv assassinated dozens of its prominent political and military leaders.
