US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday reiterated that Iran must withdraw all its forces and militias from Syria and that Assad should have no role in the future of Syria.
Iran’s military forces “must leave and go home,” said Tillerson at a press conference in Washington in which he presented a synopsis on the foreign department’s achievements since his appointment as the US state secretary seven month ago.
Tillerson went on to say that the Iranians are “persistent in their efforts to exert their influence across the Middle East, and it is our intent working with our allies in the region to push back on Iran’s expansionist efforts to destabilize areas, particularly Yemen, Iraq, Syria…”
The US top diplomat pointed that his country is keen to cooperate with Russia to re-stabilize Syria provided that the Iranian forces leave the war-torn country.
Tillerson stressed that his country is yet to change its stance towards the Assad regime, noting that it did not believe that Assad “should have a role in the nation’s future.”
The US is seeking to achieve “the end state, which is a unified Syria – not divided – but a Syria that is – has the opportunity for the Syrian people to put in place a new constitution, have free and fair elections, and select a new leadership.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)