Behind the Headlines/september 7

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines:

The meeting of Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani in Tehran over Syria;

What are Iran’s objectives in a post-war Syria, while many of its own cities look like war-zones;

Khamenei’s speech on Iran’s crisis-ridden economy;

Our guests tonight to discuss these topics with them are Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh and Navid Jamshidi.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

Iran’s Defence Minister general Hatami traveled to Syria ten days ago without any apparent objectives, but all indications are that the Russians have agreed with the Israelis on the one hand, and the Americans have agreed with the Turks on the other, on what type of future Syria should have in its post-war era.

Once again the Islamic republic regime has been left out of a regional deal after having squandered more than $20 billion of our people’s money in Syria and caused the death of more than 2000 Iranian soldiers in there.

And yet the Israelis come and bomb the regime’s bases and forces in Syria at whim while the Russians have kept their two naval and three air bases and 25000 troops in Syria out of reach of any attack by the Israelis!

The regime may still have up to 3000 of its forces in Syria who are mainly from different nationalities but have agreed to stay hundreds of kilometer away from the border with Israel, and yet the Israelis are not happy with this and are calling for the full departure of all Iranian and their proxy forces from Syria.

Jamshid Chalangi:

The Iranian people have been calling on the regime to abandon Syria and think of Iranian people’s interests and wellbeing in their protest slogans.

Navid Jamshidi:

Sadly the Iranian people are engulfed in very many daily economic and social challenges to survive that they hardly notice these political developments that directly affect their lives.

The only thing that they hear about and feel is that three heads of states havegathered in Tehran and their arrival has caused a heavy traffic jam.

The Iranian people have a very negative view of the Russians after the recent shameful Caspian Sea convention where Iran gave up many of its rights to Moscow and Putin’s presence in Iran is meant to show that the Russians supposedly regard the regime as an important ally.

And all this is happening while the Syrian army is waiting to receive the order to attack the city of Idlib which has a population of 3 million people and there is every possibility that Assad will use chemical weapons against them as before.

Erdogan has opposed any such attack on Idlib but Rouhani has claimed that the city must be cleared of the terrorists, which is only a green light to Assad to carry out his murderous attacks.

Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:

I think the Americans are following a double standard here because they have said that they will support any attempt to eradicate the terrorists in Syria, but here they are following the Russian line, which is to annihilate all Assad’s opponents that include freedom fighters too.

And yet Washington has warned Assad not to use any chemical weapons or face sever consequences.