Strategic Council Online: Former Iranian ambassador to Romania and Hungary says Emmanuel Macron intends to reduce or take over the US role in the West Asian region. “Whether France is powerful enough to accomplish this task or whether it has the tools to do so will be decided in the future,” he said.
Strategic Council Online: Turkey believes if Idlib is liberated Ankara’s role in the next political process in Syria will decline and the Syrian government may in future seek to oust Turkish forces from other areas, such as Afrin.
Siamak Kakai – Turkey affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: An expert on Middle East affairs said Turkey was in a state of unprecedented strategic confusion, especially in Idlib, adding that if Ankara fails to use these tools and is unable to come out of the strategic confusion in Idlib and gain field achievements there would remain no other way for Erdogan than negotiation.
Strategic Council Online: The presence of US troops in Africa is in line with efforts by Washington and some other Western capitals to create the southern branch of the NATO military alliance.
Jafar Ghanadbashi- Middle East Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: A faculty member of the Shahid Beheshti University outlining the most important issues at the Munich Security Conference described the current state of world security as extremely shaky and noted that the Conference could not accomplish any important results.
Strategic Council Online: A West Asia affairs expert said the reading of Russia, Iran and Syria of the Sochi deal appear to be different from what Turkey thinks of the deal. Mr Erdogan is making his own personal interpretation of the Sochi deal, which is tantamount to turning the negotiating table upside down and disturb the rules of the game.
Strategic Council Online: What we have witnessed in the recent widespread operations of the Ansarullah movement and the Yemeni people’s armies against Saudi positions is, on the one hand, an attempt to persuade Saudi Arabia to admit its military weaknesses inside Yemen, and on the other, an attempt to thwart troublesome and armed moves of mercenary groups seeking to disrupt the situation in Sanaa (the capital of Yemen) and create new insecurity in the region.
Jafar Ghanadbashi – Middle East Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: Referring to a UN official’s warning against strengthening of terrorists’ positions and efforts to revive ISIS, a West Asian affairs expert said given that Idlib is the last hope for the terrorists and their overseas supporters, the possibility of boosting these terrorist groups exists and therefore the Idlib war will be very difficult to fight.
Strategic Council Online: An expert on geopolitics has said France has failed to adopt appropriate policies on counterterrorism, saying that while Europe’s top concern has been terrorist acts over less than a decade, Mr Macron thinks we are still in the Cold War era and gives the first priority to developing nuclear weapons and to boast them against Russia.
Strategic Council Online: What is evident in the Turkish government’s intentions to deploy troops, or in other words maintain military presence in Libya, is that the Erdogan government not only in words but in practice wants to somehow revive the Ottoman Empire by restoring Turkey’s leadership in the Muslim world through a formidable foreign policy game.
Dr Ghadir Golkarian, professor at the University of Near East, Cyprus
Strategic Council Online: German leaders have decided to spend part of their military budget to deploy military forces to bolster the defense of Germany and Europe, as the best defence for countries is to move their strongholds overseas. That is to say, if a country wants to defend itself, it must also be a military activist in its periphery.
Abdolreza Farajirad – University Professor in Geopolitics
Strategic Council Online: A Middle East analyst brought up the importance of Syrian army’s success in liberating Ma’arat al-Numan, Khan Tuman and areas of Idlib, saying the most difficult operation is Operation Idlib because it seems that there is a serious disagreement on military operations of Syria and Russia with Turkey in this region and the two sides have different strategies.
Strategic Council Online: An Afghan affairs expert said the US military plane crash in Afghanistan could indicate that Washington has become so vulnerable in the region that it is hurt even by the Taliban. “If it is proved it is the work of the Taliban the US policy towards the Taliban is set to change.”
Strategic Council Online: Recently, news broke out that the United States is seeking to resume talks with North Korea. According to the White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien “it’s a positive sign that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had not delivered on a warning of a Christmas gift.” However, there is still a long and winding road to resolving the crisis on the Korean Peninsula and according to current trends there is no positive prospect of resolving it until at least the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Mohammad Zare: China and Asia affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: An Asian affairs expert has described a security conference between heads of Turkish and Syrian intelligence agencies in Russia after long years an important and eye-catching development. “Considering its field victories Syria seems to have sent a strong message to the Turkish authorities about complete withdrawal from Syrian lands and the decision to fight terrorism and return all occupied Syrian lands.
Strategic Council Online: A university professor cited Moscow’s announcement that Khalifa Haftar has left Moscow without signing a ceasefire agreement with the Libyan National Unity Government, saying: “Until the Arab countries are convinced that Khalifa Haftar will have the upper hand in the agreements to be reached, they will not be willing to allow him to agree to a ceasefire.”
Strategic Council Online: An international relations professor said that the Iranian military operation against the US military base in Baghdad was merely a blow to American grandeur and that Iran’s response will be given in due time and within the geography of the Resistance. The Americans should estimate their response within the new calculations not the previous evaluations that Iran exercised restraint.
Strategic Council Online: The coordinated participation of China, Russia and Iran in a joint naval drill illustrates a common understanding among the high-ranking officials of the three countries of the potential threats and can be seen as a step towards shaping a multipolar world order in the future as well as new security strategies in the region.
Hamideh Safamanesh – International Relations Researcher
Strategic Council Online: Given the US maximum pressure policy, the continuation of Iran’s policy of “neither talks nor war” is one of the instances that reflect a realistic approach in Tehran’s foreign policy.
Dr. Abdollah Moradi – University Professor and Defense and Security Analyst
Strategic Council Online: An expert on international security affairs pointing to a joint naval exercise between Iran, Russia, and China in the north of the Indian Ocean and the Oman Sea said: This combination could upset the power equation in the region and, before anything, weaken the American unilateralist axis and strengthen the multilateral camp in the region.
