Long-Term Strategic Cooperation

DAMASCUS, Syria (Dispatches) — The presidents of Iran and Syria signed Wednesday a series of long-term cooperation agreements on oil and other sectors to bolster economic ties between the two allies.
Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, leading a large economic and political delegation, met with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, after landing in the war-torn country for a two-day visit — an Iranian president’s first visit to Damascus since 2010.
Tehran has been a main backer of Syria since a full-blown war began on the country and has played an instrumental role in turning the tide of the conflict in the country’s favor. Syrian government forces have regained control of large parts of the country in recent years.
Raisi hailed President Assad for overcoming sanctions and achieving “victory” in the country’s 12-year-long war.
“Syria’s government and people have gone through great difficulties, and today we can say that you have overcome all these problems and achieved victory despite the threats and sanctions imposed on you,” Raisi told Assad.
Assad told Raisi that Syria-Iran ties “were stable and steady during difficult times despite heavy political and security storms that struck the Middle East”, according to the statement.
Iran “did not hesitate to provide political and economic support (to Syria), and even offered blood,” Assad added.
Assad and Raisi signed memoranda of understanding on “long-term strategic cooperation”, covering fields including in oil, aviation, railways and agriculture and free trade zones, SANA said.
Press TV said the two presidents inked 14 documents in various areas, also including trade, housing, telecommunications, earthquake relief, and facilitation of pilgrimage to the holy sites for the people of the two Muslim nations.
Iran’s state-owned railway company has long aspired to expand its network through neighboring Iraq and Syria, linking it to the Syrian port of Lattakia on the Mediterranean Sea to boost trade.
The deal are important also for Syria, whose economy has hit an all-time low over the past decade, with spiraling inflation, a currency plunge and rampant power cuts.
“Just as the Islamic republic stood by the Syrian government and nation in the fight against terrorism, it will also stand by its Syrian brothers in the field of development and progress,” Raisi said, according to the presidency website.
In an interview with pan-Arab

television channel Al-Mayadeen ahead of his visit, Raisi called for reconstruction efforts and for Syrian refugees who fled the country’s war to return home.

He said the trip would “consolidate and develop” ties with Syria and other allies, including Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

“Syria’s government and people have gone through great hardship,” Syrian state media quoted Raisi as telling Assad during their meeting. “Today, we can now say that you have overcome all these problems and were victorious, despite the threats and sanctions imposed against you.”

Raisi was also to visit the Sayida Zeinab and Sayida Ruqayya shrines, both holy sites in Shia Islam, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument dedicated to Syrian soldiers killed in battle.

The last Iranian president to visit Syria was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010.

The large Iranian delegation includes the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, oil, roads and urban development as well as telecommunications.

Raisi’s visit comes as some Arab countries, including Egypt and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, have been opening up to Assad and their foreign ministers have visited Damascus in recent weeks. Syria’s foreign minister also visited the Saudi capital of Riyadh in April, the first such visit since the two countries cut relations in 2012.

In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement, brokered by China, to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.

The regional atmosphere following the Saudi-Iran rapprochement has made Raisi’s visit “more appropriate”, said Damascus-based analyst Osama Danura.

In April, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the first visit to Damascus by a Saudi official since the start of the war.

“America and its allies failed on all fronts against the resistance, and could not achieve any of their goals,” Iran’s new ambassador to Syria, Hussein Akbari, told Iran’s state news agency on Tuesday.

A week before the Iranian president’s visit to Damascus, Iran’s minister of road and urban development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, met with Assad in the Syrian capital, where he delivered a message from Raisi supporting the expansion of ties, Iran’s IRNA news agency said.

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Long-Term Strategic Cooperation