PHOTO: UN and Iranian delegations meet in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the Syrian crisis

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Iran’s regime has hosted the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, amid the dormant political process and intense fighting, bombing, and sieges across the country, especially in the northwest.

No details were given of the encounter. Instead, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari put out Tehran’s standard statement,

The Islamic Republic of Iran will support any solution which is approved by the Syrian government, nation and political groups….The Islamic Republic of Iran’s strategy since the onset of the crisis in Syria up to the present time has been to underscore a political solution as the main strategy to end the crisis in Syria.

Without naming any countries — but possibly referring to Turkey, whom Iran wants to detach from support of the Syrian opposition — Jaberi Ansari said “some key players in the crisis have shifted their policies” to open up possibilities for a diplomatic resolution.

The Minister supported de Mistura’s call for a renewal of talks.

Since the breakdown of indirect discussions between the Assad regime and the opposition in April, the UN envoy has repeated promised an imminent resumption, only to push back the prospective date.

“We are determined to actually look for a proper date in August for relaunching the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva,” de Mistura said on Sunday.

However, any prospect of discussions is distant. President Assad has ruled out any transitional governing authority, the centerpiece of international proposals since 2012. Instead, the regime — enabled by Russia and assisted by Iranian troops, Hezbollah fighters, and foreign militias — has continued bombing and sieges, and has been encouraged by recent success in cutting off opposition-held parts of Aleppo city.

The opposition-rebel High Negotiations Committee has refused to concede its demands for Assad’s departure from power, and rebel factions counter-attacked near Aleppo on Sunday.

See Syria Daily, August 1: Rebel Gains in Offensive to Break Siege of Aleppo

“US and Israel Providing Intelligence for Syria’s Rebels”

Meanwhile, a senior advisor to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, declared that the US and Israel are supplying intelligence to Syrian rebels.

Hossein Sheikholeslam, recently appointed as Zarif’s advisor, asserted, “The US and Israel have a direct ground and air presence amid clashes in Syria. They collect data using drones, provide terrorists with precise intelligence and define specific targets for them.”

Sheikholeslam accused the US of seeking “to divide the region based on nationalities” to justify the existence of Israel with a “Jewish nationality”.

He said Iran will continue its “advisory” military assistance to the Assad regime — now including substantial numbers of commanders, Iranian troops, and Iranian-led foreign militias — until the Syrian crisis is over.

Supreme Leader: “We Cannot Negotiate with Unreliable US”

The Supreme Leader has used a speech on Monday to renew his denunciation of the US, accusing it of violating the terms of the July 2015 nuclear deal:

Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly said that Iran would not work with Washington on any issue apart from the nuclear agreement, and he has declared since January’s implementation that the US is violating the deal through continuation and extension of sanctions.

In a new diplomatic maneuver — apparently linked to Tehran’s courtship of Turkey on regional issues, including the Syrian civil war, and on economic links — Khamenei declared possible American involvement in the failed July 15 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “In recent events in Turkey, strong accusations are raised against Americans being behind coup; if proved, it is a huge scandal for US.”

The Supreme Leader also continued the Islamic Republic’s campaign against Saudi Arabia, deriding its “aggression on Yemen”, and accusing it of conspiracy with Israel: