ISLAMABAD: Iran would first have to acknowledge what it had done to Syria and its people before any future Pakistan-led mediation could help restore ties between Damascus and Tehran, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani said on Thursday.
Shaibani was speaking to journalists in Islamabad during his first official visit to Pakistan since the December 2024 overthrow of Bashar Assad, whose government was a close Iranian ally.
Tehran provided Assad with extensive military and financial support during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, including through Iran-backed armed groups that fought alongside government forces.
Asked whether Islamabad, which has mediated between Iran and the United States during their recent conflict, could play a similar role between Damascus and Tehran, Shaibani said no such proposal had been made during his visit.
“We are, of course, very happy and proud of the historic role that was played by Pakistan in the mediation between the USA and Iran, and the breakthrough that has come in an appropriate time to stop this war,” he said through an interpreter.
“In this visit, there was no offering of mediating between Iran and Syria,” he added. “In the future, if the causes of such mediation or such talk with Iran are in place, and if Iran recognized and admitted what it has done to Syria and to the Syrian people, and if Pakistan is willing to have a role in such talks, so we have no problem.”
Shaibani said diplomacy with Tehran was not permanently off the table but relations could not move toward an exchange of visits until Iran addressed its role in Syria under Assad.
“Diplomacy has no limits,” he said. “So when we see that such a scenario fits into the interest of the Syrian state and the Syrian people, and there are genuine justification of that and a real solution for what Iran has done to our people in the past 14 years, so this might happen.”
MAKKAH DEFENSE PACT
Shaibani said Syria was also studying whether to join a new joint defense agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, but had not yet taken a decision.
The Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, signed by the three countries on Aug. 7, stipulates that an armed attack against one of its members would be considered an attack against all three.
“As for the Makkah Agreement, we observed this agreement just as did all other countries, and we understand that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are very important countries in the region,” Shaibani said.
“Of course, we are studying our options,” he continued. “We don’t have a decision right now whether to join or not to join this alliance. This is something that will be kept for the future.”
His comments came amid renewed tensions with Israel, which carried out eight airstrikes on Syria’s Abu Al-Duhur air base this week, damaging its runway and storage areas. Israel said the strikes were intended to prevent a potential deployment of Turkish forces at the facility, while Türkiye denied it had personnel there.
Shaibani accused Israel of seeking to prevent Syria from stabilizing and rebuilding since Assad’s overthrow and said it had violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement by advancing into the buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces.
“The relationship with Israel is tense,” he said, adding: “Israel is seeking not to give space to Syria to have stability in the country or to rebuild the country.”
But Shaibani said Damascus did not want another war and that US mediation was underway to de-escalate tensions and seek a security agreement between Syria and Israel.
“We want to reconstruct the country, we want the stability of Syria and the region, we don’t want to go into war with Israel, and we want Israel to stop its aggression against Syria,” he said.
Asked whether Syria could eventually join the Abraham Accords, under which several Arab states established relations with Israel, he said it was too early to discuss a strategic agreement while Israeli attacks continued.
“In order to get into any strategic agreement, we need to have an appropriate environment for discussing any future relations,” he said. “Right now, all of our concern is to stop the aggressions of Israel against Syria.”
Shaibani also described Türkiye, a major supporter of Syria’s new administration, as an important “partner and ally” and said Damascus wanted Ankara to play a role in the country’s reconstruction.
“Our relationship with Turkiye is in the open, it’s very clear, and it’s not secret,” he said, adding that Syria was a sovereign country that would choose its alliances and partnerships according to its national interests.
PAKISTAN-SYRIA TIES
In response to a question about Syria’s relations with Pakistan, Shaibani said his visit had opened the way for expanded cooperation between Islamabad and Damascus, with the two sides agreeing to revive their Joint Ministerial Commission and work toward restoring direct flights.
Both countries also agreed to establish a Pakistan-Syria Business Council, hold an investment forum in Damascus and exchange military, economic and trade delegations, he said.
Shaibani met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir during the visit.
Pakistan reaffirmed its support for Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, while the two sides discussed cooperation in trade, investment, defense, education and people-to-people exchanges.
Shaibani said the two countries also intended to raise their diplomatic representation to ambassadorial level, adding that formal diplomatic representation had never been interrupted.
“The most important thing in any relationship is to have the political will and the good intentions to improve these relations, and to have mutual respect and joint interests or common interests in order to have a healthy relationship,” he said.
“That’s what we have found today in our meetings with all the Pakistani officials. We found that we are on the same page, we have the same concerns, and we have the same goals, and we want to improve this relationship.”
