US says Iranian presence in Syria fuels ISIS cause

Iranian presence in Syria is empowering ISIS in the region, Washington’s special envoy to Syria said yesterday.

Ambassador James Jeffrey said the Trump administration will focus on pressuring Iran financially and contesting its activities in the region in an attempt to push Tehran’s military and proxies out of Syria.

“We see that [ISIS and Iran] are closely linked,” Mr Jeffrey said. “ISIS to a large degree, certainly in Syria and Iraq, is based upon the populations – the Sunni Arab population,” he said, alluding to Iranian influence in the Syrian and Iraqi governments and its effect on their respective disgruntled Sunni populations.

“Iran’s encroachment into Arab areas gives no other alternative to pushing it out,” Mr Jeffery said.

In Syria, Tehran joined Moscow and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in backing President Bashar Al Assad during the country’s seven-year war.

Mr Jeffery stressed that Washington’s strategy would not involve direct military targeting of Iranian soldiers and proxy groups. Instead, he said, the new list of sanctions

against vital oil exports, banking and transport industries would squeeze Iran’s financial sector.

US President Donald Trump in May pulled out the US from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.

Mr Jeffrey said Washington would contest “more actively Iran’s activities, particularly in Iraq, Syria and Yemen”.

The ambassador also linked the future withdrawal of American troops from Syria to the departure of Iranian forces from the country.

Tehran holds influence in several countries in the region where it backs armed militias.

US policy is to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, work on a solution to the conflict under the terms of UN Security Council resolutions and ensure all Iranian-commanded forces leave Syria entirely, Mr Jeffrey said.

“The US is pushing for the launch of a constitutional committee by end of December through the UN resolution of 2254 and to the regulation of a ceasefire,” he said.

Resolution 2254 is the internationally agreed on document defining how to end the Syria war through political transition.

Mr Al Assad has resisted attempts to end the conflict, and has held on to power for more than seven years with help from Iran and Russia.

Both have helped to turn the tide in favour of the regime, especially in the past three years, with rebel forces being routed in many areas.

The US says a continuation of Mr Al Assad’s regime will not lead to a political settlement.

It will co-operate only with a Syrian government that does not drive half its population away, wage criminal war on its people, use chemical weapons, threaten its neighbours or empower Iranian, Mr Jeffrey said.

“If they show us a Syrian government that could meet this criteria, then that would be a Syrian government that we can work with,” he said.