BEIRUT — Inter-national envoy Kofi Annan tried to rescue his peace plan for Syria by seeking help Monday from Iran, a staunch ally and military backer of President Bashar Assad’s regime.
BEIRUT — Inter-national envoy Kofi Annan tried to rescue his peace plan for Syria by seeking help Monday from Iran, a staunch ally and military backer of President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Before flying to Tehran, Annan said he had agreed on a new approach with Assad to stop the violence, which activists say has killed more than 17,000 people since the conflict began in March 2011.
Annan did not spell out the agreement or say what kind of involvement he saw for Iran in resolving the crisis. Anti-regime fighters dismissed any role for Iran in a plan they and some experts say has little hope of succeeding.
“Kofi thinks you can’t have a political transition and solution without the Iranians on board, but this is still part of the understanding that Assad and the regime will be part of the solution — an idea many of us have given up on,” said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center and an analyst on regional politics.
The United States has rejected Iranian participation in international meetings on the crisis in Syria.
Annan, the joint envoy for Syria from the U.N. and the Arab League, presented a peace plan earlier this year, but it has been deeply troubled from the start.
Government forces and rebels have widely disregarded a cease-fire that was to begin in April, and spreading violence has kept nearly 300 U.N. observers monitoring the truce stuck in their hotels in Syria.
After a two-hour meeting with Assad on Monday, Annan said the men had agreed on “an approach” to stop the violence, and that the diplomat would share it with the armed opposition.
“I also stressed the importance of moving ahead with a political dialogue, which the president accepts,” Annan said.
Annan then flew to Tehran to seek help from Iranian officials. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said he would meet with Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and top security official Saeed Jalili.
Last week, Annan acknowledged that international efforts to find a political solution for Syria had failed and called for a greater role for Iran, saying Tehran “should be part of the solution.”
Since Assad took power following the death of his father, Hafez, in 2000, he has deepened cultural, political and economic ties with Iran, making it Syria’s strongest regional ally.
Iran has also boosted Assad’s military, providing it with advanced communications technology and weapons, as well as sending elite military advisers.
All of this makes Iran unlikely to support change in Syria.
“Inviting Iran to discuss how to best transition to a post-Assad Syria is akin to inviting vegetarians to a barbecue,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Iran will only abandon Assad if it knows the next regime will be as strong an ally and keep Syria an open pathway for Iran to arm Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants, Sadjadpour said.
“That’s not something that Kofi Annan can offer,” he said.
Including Shiite Iran could also further isolate the mostly Sunni rebels fighting inside Syria, who say it is too close to the regime they seek to topple.