Iran has left no doubt that it will do whatever it takes to protect the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran’s staunch ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday.
Clinton also said the United States was offering the Syrian opposition an additional $45 million in non-lethal and humanitarian aid: $30 million for humanitarian assistance and $15 million for non-lethal help, such as radios and training.
“Let’s be very frank here: The regime’s most important lifeline is Iran,” she said.
“Last week, a senior Iranian official publicly acknowledged that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are operating inside Syria,” she told a group of foreign ministers at a UN meeting in New York.
“There is no longer any doubt that Tehran will do whatever it takes to protect its proxy and crony in Damascus,” Clinton said.
The 18-month-old uprising against Assad has descended into a civil war and opposition activists estimate more than 30,000 people have been killed.