How Iran sees ‘post-America’ Syria

Source:al Monitor Date:31Dec2018

After the Kurds and Damascus have failed to reach a compromise, Tehran thinks Ankara putting real pressure on the Kurds would probably work. In other words, either the Kurds — under the pressure of Ankara’s threats of military intervention — will finally agree to a compromise with Assad, or Turkey will go ahead with the military option, which would once and for all deprive the United States of its most powerful asset in Syria. In return, Turkey has recently shown more openness toward accepting Assad in power in Syria. As such, Tehran assesses the current state of affairs in the eastern Euphrates as a win-win situation. However, as the US pullout would deprive the Kurds of their main protector in the face of an imminent Turkish invasion, the first scenario now appears more likely.