Syria warns Iranian forces pull-out ‘not up for discussion’

Middle East Eye

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said on Wednesday that the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria was “not up for discussion”, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV reported.

“Whether Iranian forces or Hezbollah withdraw or stay in Syria is not up for discussion because it’s the (business) of the Syrian government,” the channel cited him as saying. 

Washington has demanded Iran make sweeping changes – from dropping its nuclear program to pulling out of the Syrian conflict – or face severe economic sanctions.

Speakig on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined a list of 12 points, including withdrawing forces from Syria.

“Iran will be forced to make a choice: either fight to keep its economy off life support at home or keep squandering precious wealth on fights abroad,” said Pompeo.

“It will not have the resources to do both.”

US President Donald Trump has long said the original 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which was also signed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, did not go far enough, and now wants the Europeans and others to support Washington’s hardline strategy.

“In the strategy we are announcing today, we want the support of our most important allies and partners in the region and around the globe. I don’t just mean our friends in Europe,” Pompeo said.

The secretary of state also said that European businesses who work with Iran in violation of US sanctions would be held “to account”.

The re-establishment of US sanctions is likely to force European companies to choose between investing in Iran or trading with the United States.

The European Union is currently trying to persuade Iran to stay in the 2015 deal, even without Washington’s participation.

On Friday, the European Commission proposed that EU governments make direct money transfers to Iran’s central bank to avoid US penalties, a step which would bypass the US financial system.

Middle East Eye

5 thoughts on “Syria warns Iranian forces pull-out ‘not up for discussion’

  1. If the middle-east wasn’t a conflict of endless BS and false-flags, they’d all be attacking Israel. Until they’re doing that, it’s hardly worth watching the show.

    We’ll probably never know who’s who over there, or who funded whom, or who they’re actually fighting for, or fighting against. The only certainty is that Israel is the source of all the trouble, and American politicians will do whatever Netanyahu tells them to.

  2. “Whether Iranian forces or Hezbollah withdraw or stay in Syria is not up for discussion because it’s the (business) of the Syrian government,”

    OUTSTANDING MOVE, ASSAD!!!!!

    Now the stinking jews will have to come up with ANOTHER LIE as to why they’re attacking Syria, and that one won’t be nearly as ‘credible’ as the Iranian excuse.

    Their facade is crumbling for the entire world to see.

  3. Seems to me that (while the Israeli-owned US govt. has been doing this for years) the Comacho, er, Trump, administration, where reality TV reigns, is getting a wee bit too Mafioso about it…so are Trump, Pompeo, Bolton and Sicko…er, Vicki Haley Mafioso kingpins, or just cowardly shabbos goys (okay, okay, Bolton is a Talmudic Jew or sayanim, whatever… and Haley is a shiksa, not a goy…)

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