February 21-2014
. . . Syria boss
Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif has told his American counterpart he is not empowered to discuss Syria, suggesting that Syria policy remains under the control of the Pasdaran’s Qods Force.
Zarif met for as hour February 1 with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Munich. They mainly discussed the upcoming nuclear talks, but when Kerry raised the issue of Syria, Zarif responded that he was not authorized to discuss it.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that Kerry “voiced his concerns and the concerns of the United States about the pace of moving chemical weapons in Syria, about the humanitarian situation on the ground and about the need to move forward towards a transitional governing body…. Foreign Minister Zarif made clear that he did not have the authority to discuss or to negotiate on Syria.”
The statement by Zarif was not entirely a surprise since the Qods Force has long controlled Iran policy in Syria. But it confirmed hat nothing on Syria has changed since President Rohani took office. The responsibility for nuclear issue was shifted from the Supreme National Security Council to the Foreign Ministry, but other responsibilities were not apparently shifted.
Major General Qasem Soleymani, the commander of the Qods Force, the branch of the military that operates abroad, once left a message for US General David Petraeus, then the US commander in Iraq, that said Soleymani controlled Iranian policy in Iraq. He is believed to have full authority to direct Iranian policy in Afghanistan and Lebanon as well as Syria and Iraq.
The Iranian decision to cut Zarif out of Syria policy means it would be difficult if not impossible for the US to cut any deal with Iran that would balance some give or take on the nuclear program with some give or take on Syria.
And since the United States cannot talk with the Qods Force, it also means there is no route open for the United States to negotiate a deal over Syria.