Foreign plans for Middle East security unattainable: Iran

Iran’s defense minister says foreign plans for bolstering security in the Middle East will inevitably fail and any plan made for this purpose must originate within the region.

Brigadier General Amir Hatami made the remarks in Russia’s capital on Tuesday as he arrived to take part in Moscow International Security Conference.

“Security plans made outside the region cannot be realized, because they are not familiar with the nature of regional organs and also are not compatible with the interests of the regional countries,” he added.

He said all foreign plans aimed at bolstering security in the region have failed and added that an alliance formed by the resistance front supported the Syrian government in the genuine fight against terrorism and succeeded in defeating Daesh terrorist group.

However, the US-led coalition pursued a very selective approach based on its own interests in the anti-terror campaign, the Iranian defense minister emphasized.

The Syrian army, backed by Russian air cover, is conducting an operation against the terrorists holed up in the Damascus suburb and, at the same time, evacuating civilians through humanitarian corridors.

Since September 2015, Moscow has been launching military operations in Syria, targeting the positions of Daesh and other militant groups upon an official request from the Damascus government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2017 declared a ‘complete victory’ over the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group on both banks of the Euphrates River in Syria, stressing the significance of switching to a political process to ultimately end the crisis in the Arab country.

“Two hours ago, the (Russian) defense minister reported to me that the operations on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates have been completed with the total rout of the terrorists,” Putin said.

Russia, Iran and Turkey have been acting as a guarantor state in peace talks for Syria in Astana, Kazakhstan. The three countries have helped set up de-escalation zones across Syria to reduce fighting on the ground.

Only after US President Donald Trump talked of a pullout from Syria in the near future, a new report said the US military has been working on plans to dispatch dozens of additional troops to the northern parts of the Arab state.

Citing several US defense and administration officials, CNN reported on Monday that the plans have been under discussion for several days and were first considered before Trump’s remarks last week.

The US president announced on March 29 that Washington would withdraw from Syria “very soon,” just hours after the Pentagon highlighted the need for American troops to remain in the war-torn country.

“We will be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now,” Trump said during a speech on infrastructure spending in the state of Ohio.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian defense minister said he would hold talks with Russian officials about ways to strengthen military cooperation and added that Tehran and Moscow have good cooperation on regional and international issues.

A senior Iranian official said in June 2017 that the Islamic Republic and Russia are boosting strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said, “We believe that such relations are underway in a strategic form, particularly since Russia’s serious and effective involvement in the fight against terrorism started in Syria.”