On June 3, 2015, following reports in the Arab and world press that thousands of Iranian and Iraqi troops are being dispatched to Syria to defend the Syrian regime,[1] which is said to be on the verge of collapse, Amir Mousavi, a former advisor to the Iranian defense minister,[2] announced in a Facebook post that in a few hours the Iranian leadership will announce the activation of its mutual defense agreement with Syria.[3] The defense agreement between the two countries, which essentially places all of Iran's defensive capabilities at Syria's disposal, was signed in 2007.[4] In 2012 then-Iranian defense minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran would "activate the agreement upon [the Syrians'] request."[5]

In a June 6, 2015 interview with the Mehr news agency, Iranian Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezai denied "reports in the foreign press claiming that Iran is planning to officially enter the war in Syria and activate the security-defense agreement between the two countries." He claimed that "this topic did not arise amongst senior Iranian officials in any shape or manner. Iranian policy is clear from the first day. Iranian assistance to the region's countries is humanitarian and advisory. Such a topic , by which Iran would aid directly, or dispatch forces to a specific country, never arose in the responsible [regime] apparatuses."

The following is a translation of Mousavi's post: "In the next few hours, the leadership of the Islamic Revolution in Iran will announce, God willing, the historic decision to activate the mutual defense pact with Syria's legitimate government. I believe that parallel decisions will be taken in Lebanon and Iraq that will reinforce the comprehensive strategy of this decision, [resulting in] an improved state of the resistance axis countries for the purpose of confronting the spread of the extremist terrorist movements supported by the Aal-Sa'ud regime and the global Free Masons organization."

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