Iran might reduce its military presence in Syria on two conditions: that the situation there "stabilizes," and significant gains are made in the war on terrorism there, the Al-Masdar News outlet quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying Saturday.
Qassemi reportedly told the Iranian Pupils Association News Agency that while Iranian contingents would remain in Syria for as long as Syrian President Bashar Assad welcomed them, Tehran would be willing to scale back its presence or "even withdraw" once it deemed the country sufficiently stable.
According to the Kuwait News Agency, Qassemi went on to explain that Iran, like Russia, was well aware of its own international interests and what it needed to do to protect them, and could not leave "at the behest of another nation" – a reference to Israel's ongoing insistence that Iranian intervention in Syria comprises a threat to its northern border.
Qassemi said that Russia and Iran had several common goals in Syria, which included cooperating to combat terrorism.
"Tehran and Moscow succeeded in establishing a well-preserved cooperation," he told IPANA.
Last month, a top aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran would immediately withdraw its "military advisers" from Syria and Iraq if their governments wanted it to.
"Iran and Russia's presence in Syria will continue to protect the country against terrorist groups and America's aggression. … We will immediately leave if Iraqi and Syrian governments want it, not because of Israel and America's pressure," said Ali Akbar Velayati in a conference in Moscow.
