Iranian Lawmaker: Washington’s “Safe Zone” Plan Won’t Change Balance of Power in Syria

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Trump administration and its allies will not be able to establish safe zones in Syria, and that the deployment of American troops to Syria will also not change the trajectory of war in the Arab country, the Iranian Parliament’s official website reports. “Americans, with the cooperation of some regional countries, are seeking to establish a safe zone in Syria, but this plan will definitely not be put into action. This is because those who are making decisions about the Syria issue are intelligent enough not to allow the sponsors of terrorists to interfere there,” reasoned Mohammad Ibrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

Referring to recent reports about the dispatch of U.S. troops to Syria, the parliamentarian added: “The presence of a few hundred American troops will definitely not have any impact on the equations [of power] in Syria.” He further claimed that the recent military gains by the Syrian Army and “the resistance front” will nullify any U.S. efforts to change the balance of power in the country.

Comment: Since President Donald Trump said on January 25 that he "will absolutely do safe zones in Syria," Iranian leaders and media outlets have repeatedly discussed and warned against such a plan. Just days after Trump’s remark, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani warned that Washington’s plan, if implemented, would lead to Syria’s disintegration. “If some parties constantly pursue the exclusion of Syria’s legitimate president and the creation of a power vacuum in the country, or take steps to divide the country by plans such as setting up safe or buffer zones, they will actively strengthen terrorism and prolong the crisis in the region,” the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative to SNSC argued.

The issue has also generated a lot of discussion in the Iranian media. A Press TV report cautioned that the execution of such a plan could trigger a confrontation between the United States and the Russian and Syrian forces. Tabnak, an outlet run by former Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) chief commander Mohsen Rezaei, wrote that the implementation of safe zones in Syria would be difficult and risky – reasoning it would require thousands of U.S. troops on the ground and that divergent interests of regional countries would also hinder a successful enforcement of the plan.