Many people in Iran—including many strong regime supporters—think Iran should distance itself from Assad, chiefly for two reasons. First, many feel he is doomed and Iran’s continued support for Assad as he goes down can only prove a major embarrassment. Secondly, they argue that Iranian support for Assad is undermining Iranian efforts to lead the Arab “rejectionists,” those who oppose any settlement with Israel, because Arabs increasingly view Iran and Assad as a Shiite alliance against the Arab world’s interests.
But Iran is not backing away.
Last Thursday, First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said Iran’s support for the Syria government was “unchangeable.” PressTV quoted Rahimi as saying, “The Iranian people have an unchangeable stance on the Syrians and will always stand by them.”
On the very same day the state news agency quoted Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, as saying Tehran will now support Damascus “even more than before in the face of foreign pressures.” Iran has always said the rebellion is not a public uprising but a foreign conspiracy.
A senior Pasdar general last week not only supported Syria but also threatened unnamed Arab states for backing the opposition. Gen. Masud Jazayeri said that “soon the soil of Syria will be cleansed of the dirt of the enemy.” Then, he said, the loyalist Syrians “will strike back hard at the enemy, particularly the hated Arabs.”