TEHRAN – After attacks on US bases in Syria and US raids on facilities used by pro-Iranian groups in Deir Ezzor (eastern Syria), these mutual attacks are setting fire to the already tense relations between the two countries.

The relationship between Tehran and Washington has been characterized by hostility and escalating tension for more than 4 decades, and despite the availability of the reasons for the war between them and its obligations, the two countries have managed to contain the escalation several times.

In light of Tehran's description of Washington as the "Great Satan", and the latter's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and the six-party group (the United States, Britain, France and Germany, in addition to China and Russia), the level of tension between them has risen in Gulf waters at times and on Iraqi territory at other times, and finally the Syrian territories come as an additional axis of escalation.

The latest escalation came after a diplomatic move to normalize relations between Tehran on the one hand and Riyadh and a number of other Arab capitals on the other, as well as after the head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Policy Kamal Kharrazi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus last Tuesday, amid Iranian fears that this escalation will affect the results achieved by diplomacy.

Diplomacy and the field

In parliament, the spokesman for the Presidency of the Iranian Parliament Nizamuddin Mousavi links diplomacy and the field, and their submission to a unified operations room.

Mousavi wrote in a tweet on Twitter that "the diplomatic dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the valiant resistance in eastern Syria intersect with a unified policy and a comprehensive strategy, the operations room works carefully and monitors all matters, yes! We are aware of what we are doing in the region."

Reading Mousavi's statement, Mohsen Jaliluand, a professor of international relations at the University of Tehran, believes that the spokesman for the Presidency of the Iranian Parliament wants to reassure domestic public opinion that developments are under control and that his country is determined to succeed in its policy aimed at restoring its relations with the countries of the region.

The Iranian academic does not hide his fear of the exit of tension from the control of Tehran and reaching undesirable levels, stressing – in a statement to Al Jazeera Net – that there are regional and international parties that do not want the Middle East to enjoy security and tranquility, and that they are working to create problems between Iran and Arab countries and obstruct Syria's return to the Arab bosom.


Causes and objectives

Glelund explained that although the recent clash on Syrian soil was not directly between Iranian and US forces, the positions and threats of both sides do not bode well.

Glelund does not rule out the development of the situation and the occurrence of direct skirmishes in the coming period.

However, the Iranian academic added that the Iranian and American sides have mastered a policy of non-slipping into direct war, while smaller incidents than the two countries have experienced over the past years would have led to war, including the downing of planes, drones and assassinations.

Officially, Iran, through the spokesman for Iran's National Security Council, Keyvan Khosravi, denies Washington's accusations of attacking US bases in Syria, considering them "untrue."

For his part, Mahdi Azizi, a political researcher close to the Revolutionary Guards, believes that regional developments are going against the US will, especially regarding Syria's return to the Arab fold and the Iranian-Gulf rapprochement, explaining that the normalization of relations between Damascus and Arab capitals may pull the rug out from under Washington's feet and refute the pretext of the presence of its forces to confront terrorism in Syria.

Azizi justifies – in his interview with Al Jazeera Net – "his country's military presence in Syria that it came in response to an official request from the Syrian government," surprising the acquisition of the US side on large areas of northeastern Syria and its oil fields under the pretext of combating the Islamic State.


Messages & Strategy

The political researcher close to the IRGC denied that his country had bombed US bases in Syria, adding that the response of resistance factions close to Iran was proportionate to Tehran's strategy to expel US forces from the region.

He saw the entry of drones and missiles into the battlefield with US forces a radical change in the rules of engagement, noting that "the resistance factions are no longer forced to coexist with the US presence in Syria, and they will work to force it to leave."

Azizi pointed out that the air defense system at US bases in Syria has failed to counter the drones, which Washington says are Iranian-made, because Tehran designed its drones to hide and not be detected by radars.

For his part, Abdullah Kanji, a member of the Iranian State Media Council, believes in a tweet on Twitter that the attacks of pro-government groups on US bases in Syria carry two messages: "Regional developments at the diplomatic level have not pushed the resistance movement towards isolation, and that the era of hit and run is over."