Al-Assad meets Khamenei and Raisi in Teheran – Details

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Tehran yesterday and met separately with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi.

According to Noor News, a website close to Iran’s National Security Council, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Assad:  “Relations between the two countries are vital, and we must not let them weaken, but strengthen them as much as possible”.

This is Bashar al-Assad’s second visit to Iran since the civil war in Syria, and comes nearly two months after his visit to the UAE.

During the meeting with Assad, Khamenei said: “Syria today is not what it was before the war, and despite the devastating effects of the war, Syria is now much more respected and appreciated than before”.

Khamenei criticized the normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel, saying: Its leaders “meet with Israeli officials and have coffee together”.

Referring to the presence of Qassem Soleimani and Hossein Hamadani in Syria, Khamenei said: “Relations and communication are vital for both countries, and we must not let it weaken”.

On February 26, 2019, Assad made an unannounced visit to Tehran as well, meeting with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

It was Bashar al-Assad’s second foreign visit and his first to Iran since the beginning of the unrest and military conflict in Syria in 2011.

Former IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani coordinated Assad’s first visit to Tehran in 2019, which led to the resignation of then foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who did not attend any of these meetings, but returned to work shortly thereafter.

In January 2020, the head of the Syrian regime offered his condolences to Tehran over the assassination of the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, stressing at the time that his country “will not forget Soleimani’s standing alongside the Syrian forces against terrorism and its supporters”, a strong reference to the role played by Soleimani in Syria.

Over the past years, Tehran has supported Damascus and stood firmly by al-Assad, particularly militarily, through its militias, most notably Hezbollah, as well as the Fatimids Brigade and others.