Adviser to the head of Iranian parliament, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, revealed the contents of a message sent by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to President Bashar al-Assad at the start of the Syrian crisis.
The Fars news agency reported that Abdollahian had said that the letter contained a warning to Assad.
The message, which reached Assad through the commander of the Quds Brigade, Qasem Soleimani, said that the Syrian people were a “red line” for Iran and that Assad should not count on any aid if he was “indifferent to killing people.”
Abdollahian added that the Syrian issue was “very important” for Iran in strategic terms, but Khamenei believed that “killing the most vulnerable members of Syrian society was a red line that Soleimani needed to convey to Bashar al-Assad.”
Last February, Assad made a surprise visit to Tehran, his first in eight years, and met with Khamenei, who stressed that Iran stood beside Syria “until it was fully recovered and had eliminated terrorism completely.”
Iran has supported the Syrian regime militarily since the start of the crisis, sending military advisers and fighters to support the regime army in the fighting, which sparked the opposition of Western countries, in particular the United States and Israel, who accused Tehran of fueling the conflict in Syria.
Iran has cooperated with Russia and Turkey, through the Astana talks to contain the fighting, resolve the Syrian crisis and “fight terrorism.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
