Iran

On January 12, the Iranian minister of transportation arrived for a three-day visit to Syria, during which he met senior regime officials, chief among them President Assad, and discussed expanding trade and economic ties between the two countries. In recent days, the Commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Esmail Qa’ani, visited Iraq and met with the heads of Iraqi parliamentary blocs. An Iranian economic delegation led by the chairman of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce arrived for a visit in Iraq to discuss expanding cooperation between the two countries in the spheres of trade, industry, mining and agriculture. The security adviser to the Iranian supreme leader and Iranian media outlets expressed support for the strikes carried out by the Houthi rebels in Yemen on the night of January 17 against the United Arab Emirates. Read more...

Iran condemned the strikes on the Lattakia Port in Syria, carried out on December 28, allegedly by Israel. On January 2, Iranian citizens were allowed to resume pilgrimage trips to Syria. Such visits were halted almost two years ago due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In an interview to the Lebanese news website al-Ahed, the Iranian ambassador to Syria stated that relations between Iran and Syria are currently focused on economic cooperation to a greater extent than before. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, declared that the blood of Qasem Soleimani forced the American forces to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq and bolstered the “resistance front” in the region. In late December, the Iraqi minister of foreign affairs arrived for a visit to Tehran during which he met senior Iranian government officials and discussed bilateral ties, developments in the region and the nuclear deal talks in Vienna. Read more...

Syrian pro-opposition sources reported that Iran deployed new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the T-4 Air Base of the Syrian Army in eastern Homs and began operating them in reconnaissance missions as part of the campaign led by Iranian-backed forces in the Badia desert. The Iranian deputy president met with the Syrian ambassador to Tehran and discussed bilateral ties and developments in the region. The Iranian Ambassador to Yemen, Hasan Irloo, has died of COVID-19. The spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennet, to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), declaring that the visit destabilizes the security of the region and is contrary to the interests of the Muslim world and Arab countries. Read more...

The Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria, Javad Ghafari, concluded his deployment to Syria and conducted a last round of visits to bases of the Shia militias operating in Syria. Following a visit of the head of the Iranian Organization for Pilgrimage to Damascus, Iran and Syria agreed to resume the pilgrimage visits of Iranian citizens to Shia holy sites in Syria, which was halted following the outbreak of COVID-19. Senior Iranian officials condemned the attempted assassination of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kazimi, carried out on the night of November 7, and denied any Iranian involvement in the event. Read more...