Iran opposed to U.S. participating in guarding de-escalation zones in Syria
Tehran is not in favor of the U.S. military participating in guarding de-escalation zones in Syria, said Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.
“No,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant in answer to a question about whether Iran would have agreed to America participating in guarding de-escalation zones.
Shamkhani stressed that “Syria has a government, and only it can decide who has the right to be present in their territory….The Americans, who support terrorism and destabilize Syria, do not want to see the Syrian authorities anywhere near them,” he explained.
During the international talks in Astana on May 3-4, representatives of the guarantor countries in Syria (Russia, Iran, Turkey) signed a memorandum on the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria. They include the province of Idlib, as well as certain areas of the neighboring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, certain areas in northern Homs Province, East Guta, and parts of the Deraa and Quneitra provinces in the south of the country.