Iran-US Negotiations over Syria: Permission Granted?

Russia’s more serious involvement in Syria and the presence of its military forces in this country on one hand, and the US' unsuccessful policy against the Assad regime on the other, have led to a remarkable shift in the West's position towards Syria. The most recent discussion is the US' possible negotiation with Iran on the Syrian crisis.

One of the most eye-catching developments regarding Syria was Wendy Sherman’s recent position towards Iran’s role, where she pointed to Washington's readiness to commence negotiations with Iran on Syria.

According to the Associated Press, Sherman expects that a discussion on Syria would be a part of the meeting between the US Secretary of State and the Iranian Foreign Minister which is supposed to be held on Sunday [yesterday] at the UN headquarters in New York.

While Zarif and Kerry are going to have a meeting on the implementation of the Iran Deal, Sherman said they might also talk about Syria. She added, “We've always been open to having discussions on the sidelines as deemed appropriate.”

The head of the US delegation during the nuclear talks, Sherman believes that Iran and the US’ parallel interests would justify such negotiations. However, she stated, “There are great political sensitivities in Iran to having these discussions and probably some limits that are real, but it is important to engage to the extent that we can.”

The main point of Sherman’s statements reflected in different media is Ayatollah Khamenei’s concerns about negotiating with the United States and his recommendations about this issue.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has emphasized that negotiating with the United States should be restricted to the nuclear program. However, a dialogue between Iran and the United States about the Syrian conflict may imply the Supreme Leader's permission to negotiate with the US on other issues.

President Hassan Rouhani has also recently spoken of a possible dialogue between Washington and Tehran over different issues while he was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly. In case the sanctions are lifted by the United States, there is a possibility to be able to start negotiations over other issues, he said.

All these factors, in addition to Syria’s developments, the successive failures of the so-called moderate forces backed by Washington and the increased presence of the Russian military, highlight the role of Iran-US talks over Syria’s future as a potential turning point with significant effects.

However, we must bear in mind that all is speculation on this issue since no official source has talked of permission for Iran-US negotiation over Syria explicitly, and talks are about the 'possibility' and 'probability' of these negotiations. Perhaps we should wait until the official announcement of this permission.

* This piece was originally published on September 26, 2015, on tabnak.ir, a news website affiliated with former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei.

Translated by: Parisa Farhadi