Azerbaijan, Baku, August 28 / Trend, S. Isayev, T. Jafarov
Iran would be less powerful in the region without current Syrian government, Head of the London-based Arab-Iranian Center for Strategic Studies, Alireza Nurizadeh told Trend.
The expert was commenting on the current developments in Syria, where the fight between the government forces and the opposition continues.
"We must keep in mind that possible overthrow of Syrian government would mean less powerful Iran, as without Syria, Iran is not as strong in the region as with it," he said.
Nurizadeh added that even if the U.S. attacks Syria, Iran will only stick to political statements and propose Syria to be silent, and not answer back.
"If Iran loses Syria, it will not be able to support Hezbollah with weapons. Hezbollah itself has limited power, as it currently is fighting in Syria. All Hezbollah would be able to do in case of an attack, is to launch several missiles on Israel, but even that would do more harm than good," he said.
Further speaking, Nurizadeh said that the U.S. can carry out limited military operations in Syria, which would probably be targeting missile bases on Syria.
"Regarding Iran's reaction, it would only reply via political threats, without taking any action," he said. "If Iran gets involved in a war with Israel and the U.S., it will lose. Currently all Iran can do is verbally express threats, without taking any further steps."
Both Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and country's newly elected president Hassan Rouhani have condemned use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Rouhani in particular underscored that there are existing threats to regional stability, which were initiated by new wave of extremism and terrorism, and this wave will increase.
Khamenei expressed his concern over the region being a "powder barrel" that its future cannot be predicted. The Supreme Leader also said that attacking Syria would be catastrophic for the whole region.
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