Iranian officials and media have welcomed the Syrian cease-fire deal announced Sept. 9 by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, despite also expressing reservations and warnings.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed a cease-fire in Syria and the facilitation of access to humanitarian help for all of the people in this country,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said Sept. 11. In follow-up remarks, however, Ghassemi noted a variety of concerns that had plagued previous attempts to implement cease-fires. “The cease-fire does not include terrorist groups such as Daesh [Islamic State (IS)], Jabhat al-Nusra or other newly formed splinter groups,” Ghassemi said, suggesting that Iran has rejected the rebranding effort by al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, which now calls itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.