IRGC commander: US unable to resolve regional crises without Iran

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami underscored the US failure in maintaining its hegemony and power, and said the Americans are well aware that they can’t settle the regional and international problems without Tehran’s assistance. “The US is no more the commander in charge in the world, rather it is now paralyzed and defeated,” Salami said. Noting that the US owes $17,000bln to other world states, he said, “At present no country stretches a red carpet for the US anymore and Egypt, Lebanon and Syria are no more the US and the Zionists’ backyard." Salami stressed the US officials’ acknowledgement of the ineffectiveness of the western sanctions against Iran, and said, “They are well aware that at present settling the regional and global crises is impossible without Iran’s partnership.” Iran’s influential role in the international and regional issues is further being revealed these days, specially in the crisis in Syria. In relevant remarks earlier this month, Commander of Iran's Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said Iran's absence from the upcoming Geneva II conference on Syria will render the gathering futile. “It (inviting Iran to the upcoming Geneva II conference) was an opportunity that the westerners lost,” Naqdi told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday. “Any decision to be taken without the Islamic Republic of Iran’s presence will be futile and fruitless,” he added. Other senior Iranian officials have also reiterated that Iran’s presence in the long-awaited Geneva II Peace Conference on Syria will be necessary, but meantime underlined that Tehran would not accept any precondition in this regard. “The presence of Iran (in the Geneva II conference) can make a big contribution to …a political and peaceful Syria solution,” Director-General of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Office for Middle-East and North Africa Reza Ameri said on Monday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is among effective countries that has always been a part of the solution to the Syrian crisis,” he added. The Iranian official noted that the Geneva II conference can begin a political process to resolve the crisis in Syria. Ameri emphasized that the Geneva II conference can result in appropriate outcomes if all effective sides involved in the Syrian crisis are permitted to express their positive views. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to confer with senior Iranian officials on the latest developments in his country, including the upcoming Geneva II conference to be held on January 22. Al-Miqdad, whose country has always underlined the necessity for Iran's participation in the Geneva II talks, was in Tehran to be informed about the latest stances of the Islamic Republic over the gathering, particularly after US Secretary of State John Kerry's Sunday comments on sidelining Iran's participation in the Geneva II conference. In response to Kerry's statements, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham reiterated Iran's full support for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, and urged the US secretary of state to see the region's realities, including Iran's undeniably influential and positive role in the settlement of regional disputes. "Iran has repeatedly announced since the very beginning of the ongoing crisis in Syria that the problem should be solved through diplomatic solutions. Any solution to the crisis should guarantee the Syrian people's right to determine their own destiny based on Syrian-Syrian talks," said the spokeswoman. Criticizing Kerry's proposal for Iran's sidelined participation in the Geneva II conference, Afkham said Tehran would only accept the proposals which are in line with its dignity. On Sunday, Kerry suggested that Iran could play a sideline role in the Syrian peace talks. He said that it would be difficult to see how Iran could be a ministerial partner in the Geneva II talks. However, he said that Tehran could play a helpful role in finding a solution to the conflict in Syria. Kerry suggested that Iran’s diplomatic office in Geneva might be able to help as an unofficial participant. Iran has always underlined a negotiated end to the crisis in Syria, reiterating that a halt in the arms flow to anti-government militants is the prerequisite to any diplomatic solution to the Syrian problem. In November 2012, Iran hosted a meeting between the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to encourage them to start talks to find a political solution to their problems. The National Dialogue Conference kicked off work in Tehran mid November with the motto of 'No to Violence, Yes to Democracy". The meeting brought together almost 200 representatives of various Syrian ethnicities, political groups, minorities, the opposition, and state officials. The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states. The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.