Iran, Syria ink defense, reconstruction deal

TEHRAN: The defense ministers of Iran and Syria have signed an agreement on military cooperation and reconstruction in the war-torn country, Iranian media reported on Monday.

“Syria is passing through the crisis stage and entering the reconstruction phase,” said Iran’s Defense Minister Amir Hatami, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Hatami is on the second day of a two-day visit to Damascus, during which he held “detailed negotiations” with his counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayoub and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Tasnim.

The “defense and technical agreement” provides for the continued “presence and participation” of Iran in Syria, Hatami added.

Tehran has provided steady

backing to Assad as he has fought back a seven-year uprising.

Meanwhile, Iran’s legal challenge against renewed sanctions by the United States goes before the UN’s International Court of Justice on Monday.

There are four key questions regarding the case:

1) What is the case about? 2) Does Tehran have a case? 3) What will Washington argue? and 4) Can Iran’s case succeed?

Iran’s attempt to block the reinstatement of sanctions, announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this year, is the latest in a series of court battles that Tehran and

Tehran accuses Washington of “besieging” its economy and wants the Hague-based court —which rules in disputes between countries — to order the US to temporarily halt punitive measures, while the judges mull the deeper merits of the case.

The case has two elements, said Eric De Brabandere, professor of international dispute settlement at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Firstly, “Iran genuinely considers the re-imposition of sanctions a violation of international law.”

Secondly, “Iran has the support of many European states on the question of sanctions, politically speaking,” De Brabandere argued.