Syria hopes for new $1 billion credit line from Iran; official

At a time when millions of people in Iran are living under the poverty line and the country’s economy in in shambles due to the backbreaking sanctions, the country’s rulers are financing the Assad regime by purring billions of dollars to save his brutal and bloody crown in Syria.
Syrian regime hopes to receive a new credit line from Iran worth around $1 billion which it will use to buy basic goods, according to the Reuters citing an assistant to Syria’s minister of economy and foreign trade saying on Wednesday.

The comments come a day after Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and reiterated Tehran’s backing for the Syrian regime.

Tehran is Assad’s most important regional ally and its financial aid has been seen as pivotal to keeping the Assad regime in power while the local currency has reached record lows over concerns about military setbacks against insurgents.

Syrian regime media said the visit of Velayati, the most senior of three Iranian officials to travel to the Syrian capital in less than a week, yielded agreements on oil, electricity, industry and investment, without giving details.

Asked about whether there would be new credit lines from Iran, Hayan Salman said: “As an economic expectation I believe it will be in the range of $1 billion, God willing.”

He said a previous $3.6 billion credit line from Iran was close to being used up. He said the fresh credit would be used “to secure the flow of essential goods and materials,” for Syria.