How Iran sees the Russian-Turkish deal on Syria’s Idlib?

Tabnak – The presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed last night to postpone the long-awaited military operation in Syria’s Idlib in order to decrease the human costs of a military move in the area. As the third pillar of the Astana Framework, Iran welcomes the deal, calling it a success for diplomatic contacts between the three sides.

In this vein, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi welcomed the recent agreement reached in Russia’ Sochi between Moscow and Ankara to create a buffer zone in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, the last major terrorist stronghold in the Arab country.

“The summit between the Russian and Turkish heads of states and the announcement of the agreement on how to resolve the issue of Idlib in Syria is an important and fundamental step toward removing the remnants of terrorists in Syria…,” Qassemi said on Tuesday.

“Halting any violence and bloodshed while ridding the region of terrorism is among the most basic and fundamental pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy,” he added.

The spokesman further expressed hope that the results of the Sochi summit, which was held within the framework of the Astana peace process and a recent summit between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Tehran, could have “an effective role” in ending the Syrian people’s suffering and speeding up the expulsion of “violence-seeking forces” from the country.

Meanwhile, in a post on his official Twitter account, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hailed the deal as the fruit of “intensive responsible diplomacy” meant to avert a war in Idlib.

“Intensive responsible diplomacy over the last few weeks-pursued in my visits to Ankara & Damascus, followed by the Iran-Russia-Turkey Summit in Tehran and the meeting is Sochi-is succeeding to avert war in #Idlib with a firm commitment to fight extremist terror. Diplomacy works,” Zarif wrote early on Tuesday.

The Russia-Turkey deal follows a summit in Tehran, where Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hosted his Russian counterparts. In a joint statement issued at the end of the Tehran talks, the three sides said the Syria crisis could only be resolved through a negotiated political process, and has no military solution.

Tehran, Moscow and Ankara have recently stepped up their diplomatic efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis. The three states serve as guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations which have resulted in the return of a succession of militant bastions to the government fold and movement of civilians to safe zones.