-Analysis-
An Iranian member of parliament says Iran must now “test an atomic bomb,” in reaction to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic’s close ally, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Tehran politicians were left shocked, angered and fearful after the Syrian leader’s sudden ouster, which has revived simmering fears of foreign plotting against Iran’s own, discredited and weakened regime. An immediate target of their ire was Turkey, which has given its backing to some of the Syrian rebels.
One member of parliament, Ahmad Naderi, tweeted on Sunday that Assad should not have trusted the Arab states of the Persian Gulf — which apparently had worked to bring him closer to the conservative Arab fold — adding that “Iran’s strategy from now must take shape around two issues: reviving the injured Axis of Resistance and testing an atomic bomb.”
Muhammad Taqi Naqdali, a member of Parliament for Khomeinishahr, took a more socio-economic approach instead, raising the precarious conditions of the country’s population when addressing parliament: “Every day people are losing their trust in the Islamic Republic… young people have lost hope when it comes to their [economic situation], employment and housing,” Naqdali said. “Events in the region should be heeded and we must consider people’s essential needs.”
Traitor to Islam?
The speaker of parliament, Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf, also observed that day — rather cheekily given Iran’s own repressive methods — that “we told Assad time and time again to pay heed to his people.”
Unfortunately for some time now Turkey has been a tool in the hands of America.
A former foreign minister turned foreign affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, separately told the Tasnim news agency that “unfortunately for some time now Turkey has been a tool in the hands of America and the Zionist regime,” meaning Israel.
He mentioned a recent meeting between Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan: “we didn’t think Turkey, with the length of its Islamic past and wealth of eminences and (sufi) spirituality, would fall into the trap set by the Americans and Zionists.”
His remarks meant the Islamic Republic’s diplomacy had failed, as Araghchi said after a recent trip to Syria and Turkey that he hoped the Syrian crisis would be solved with an agreement between Assad’s “friends,” meaning Iran, Russia and Turkey.
Other regime sources have gone further, with one Instagram account linked to the Revolutionary Guards attacking Turkish President Erdogan as a “traitor to Islam.” Some politicians have noted the haste with which Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ditched Assad, suggesting fears he would in time do exactly the same with the Islamic Republic.
Russia’s friends
While Assad’s fall is no boon for Iran’s regime, some see a silver lining. The former head of parliament’s National Security commission, Hishmatullah Falahatpisheh, wrote on X that “Iranians should be glad, because nobody will have the right now to spend the nation’s dollars on preserving a spider’s web.”
The legislator is known for his skepticism over the regime’s ties with Russia, considered by some in Iran as entirely venal, cynical and manipulative.
Syria owed Iran billion.
Certain press reports estimate that Iran may have spent some billion in Syria, both to keep Assad in power and for its own, future interests there. One former legislator insisted on Saturday that Syria owed Iran billion.
Falahatpisheh had warned on Dec. 2 that the Russians were concerned by any bid by Iran to come to terms with the Western powers over its nuclear program and “more importantly,” over its assistance to Russia in the war in Ukraine.
He told the website Khabar that “Russia’s friends” in policy-making quarters had not only harmed the regime’s already dismal relations with the United States, but now also with the European Union, which he said had hardened its stance on the Iranian dossier.
