Iran has foiled hostile plan in the region

By Abdollah Shahbazi

Thirteen years ago, the situation in the region was highly disappointing. There were predictions about fragmentation in the region by enormous developments, from which Iran would not survive. Iran was definitely supposed to be at the heart of the disturbance. The chaos started with the Syrian civil war in March 2011. 

Everyone knows that it was only Iran that resisted and prevented the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Therefore, Iran stopped Syria’s breakup. If Syria had collapsed, the same event would have happened to Iraq and then Iran. No one could stop the major collapse in the region. 

When Iranian resistance succeeded, after the foiling of a Western powers’ joint plot to attack Syria in September 2013, Russia joined the resistance movement as an active member in September 2015. Actually, it was Iran that maintained and led the resistance and then Russia backed it. Preserving Syria's territorial integrity and the Assad administration were not a job carried out by Russia and followed up by Iran. It was vice versa. 

In 2010 and 2011, Iran’s atmosphere was extremely bipolar due to events that followed the 2009 protests. For this reason, a great number of political figures inside the country strongly opposed Iran’s intervention in Syrian affairs. There were a controversial situation on Facebook. I was defending Iran’s regional role and also was observing disagreements regarding this matter. 

 At that time, it was hard to imagine this great victory and result. The achievement of the resistance is a development that I called the “end of Western powers’ hegemony and the emergence of a new Middle East”. This new Middle East will be totally different from the one we have witnessed over the last century. 

The end of Western powers’ hegemony does not mean that there will be no more financial-political conspiracies in the Middle East. But at least we will not see events like official military attacks on Afghanistan or Iraq by the U.S. and its allies in the near future. 

This is a great achievement for all countries in the region, which can herald a bright future for Iran, such as cultural, economic and political influence across a vast area extending to the Mediterranean coast.  

This is an area that can change the fate of Iran and have a profound impact. This matter is so serious since the area extended from Tehran to Latakia and Beirut. 

This regional achievement, if nothing bad happens and security is established, can resolve all economic problems, terminate pressures, and bring great prosperity. We should be grateful for this opportunity and seize it.

Beside Iran, there were also non-calculable factors that made the achievement happen, including domestic developments in the U.S., Britain, France, and Western Europe. Many issues were beyond our control and imagination. It can be said that our destiny led us to this point.