Revealing Tehran’s Grand Plan for Syria
Revealing Tehran’s Grand Plan for Syria
Reuters news agency, in a special report, has unveiled a 33-page official study by the Iranian government, according to which Tehran intended to create an empire for itself by economically rebuilding Syria and at the same time deepen its influence over Bashar al-Assad’s government.
Reuters says this document, prepared by the political-economic section of the Iranian embassy in Syria in May 2022, was found during the looting of the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Damascus when the Syrian capital fell to Assad’s opposing rebels in December 2024.
In this study, referring to the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II, it was mentioned that the United States’ strategy was successful by creating economic, political, and socio-cultural dependence on Europe. Reuters, in this report published on Thursday, May 1, says the Islamic Republic of Iran also intended to do the same by rebuilding war-torn Syria.
This study was part of hundreds of other documents, including letters, contracts, and infrastructure plans, discovered at the Iranian embassy in Damascus and other parts of the Syrian capital, showing how the Iranian government intended to recoup the billions of dollars it spent to save Bashar al-Assad’s government during Syria’s long civil war.
Reuters journalists, during their visit to Iranian power centers in Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s fall, including diplomatic, economic, and cultural offices, photographed about two thousand files, including trade contracts, economic plans, and official telegrams, and left them where they found them.
The journalists then used artificial intelligence, including Thomson Reuters’ legal AI assistant, to summarize and analyze the texts.
Iranian officials have not responded to Reuters’ requests for comment on their findings.
The new Syrian government officials have also refused to comment on Iran’s role during Assad’s rule.
A $400 Billion Opportunity
One of the key points in this study says a $400 billion opportunity. According to Reuters, Iran’s economic empire hopes faded when Syrian rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s government last December. The ousted dictator fled to Russia, and Iranian militias, diplomats, and companies hurriedly left the country, and the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Damascus was looted by opponents.
The building was full of documents highlighting the challenges facing Iranian investors.
Reuters says it interviewed dozens of Iranian and Syrian traders, reviewed the websites of Iranian companies operating in the gray areas of sanctions, and visited some abandoned Iranian investments, including religious sites, factories, military facilities, and others. These investments yielded no results due to militia attacks, local corruption, sanctions, and bombings by the U.S. and Israel.
According to this news agency, the construction of a 411 million euro power plant on the coast of Latakia was among these investments, built by an Iranian engineering company. The plant has ceased operations. An oil extraction project in the eastern Syrian desert has been abandoned.
A bridge built over the Euphrates River worth $26 million, constructed by an entity affiliated with Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, collapsed years ago due to an airstrike by a U.S.-led coalition. It was neither repaired nor fully paid for by the Syrian government.
The report adds that nearly 40 projects in the remaining files of the Iranian embassy indicate part of the Islamic Republic’s overall investment in Syria.
However, Reuters has found that one item among these is Syria’s outstanding debts to Iranian companies, which amounted to at least $187 million at the end of the war. Some former members of the Iranian parliament estimate Assad’s government’s total debt to Iran at over $30 billion.
The Reuters report states that Iranian businessman Hassan Shakeshi lost 16 million euros worth of car parts he had sent to the Syrian port of Latakia just before Assad’s escape. Mr. Shakeshi said, ‘I had set up an office and home in Syria, all of which were lost.’ He says he never received payment for the goods that disappeared. ‘I just hope the long history between Iran and Syria is not lost. Now I look to other places for trade.’
Ultimately, Iran’s failed hopes to emulate the Marshall Plan and build an economic empire that included Syria went beyond the U.S. defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The initial intervention in the Syrian civil war in support of Bashar al-Assad deepened Iran’s influence over this Mediterranean coastal country.
The story of wasted investments highlights the financial risk this intervention carried and how the mutual reliance of Syria and Iran’s disliked governments harms both.
For the Islamic Republic officials, Assad’s fall and the collapse of their plans in Syria happened in a precarious situation.
With Iran’s proxy forces in the region, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, being destroyed by Israel, the Islamic Republic was weakened.
Tehran is also under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to a deal that could roll back Iran’s nuclear program or face potential military action if it refuses.
Iran’s regional rivals, including Turkey and Israel, are rushing to fill the vacuum left by Iran’s exit from Syria.
The new Damascus government is also striving to rebuild the war-torn country.
Abbas Akbari, Responsible for Iran’s Economic Plans in Syria
Reuters says the person tasked with implementing Iran’s economic programs in Syria was a bearded construction manager from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps named Abbas Akbari. Mr. Akbari was appointed with much fanfare as the head of an organization called the Development of Economic Relations between Iran and Syria in February 2013.
The task of this organization was to strengthen trade and bring Iran’s investments to fruition.
His team conducted a study that put the Marshall Plan as a model on their agenda.
Reuters says it found letters signed by Akbari in the looted Iranian embassy.
These documents include details of projects he supported or allocated funds for.
Akbari has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s economic programs in Syria began long before Abbas Akbari’s arrival.
The MAPNA Group secured its first major contract in 2008 to develop a power plant near Damascus.
Soon, a second contract was signed to build another power plant near the city of Homs.