Senior Arab Journalist describes as decisive Tehran July meeting

Tehran, July 16, IRNA – Fate of the region will be decided in Tehran not in Helsinki, said a senior Arab journalist, referring to the meeting between the US and Russian leaders in the Finnish capital on Monday. The Helsinki meeting fades in significance when it is compared to the Tehran meeting, due to be held late in July in the Iranian capital, wrote Abdel Bari Atwan editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm, an Arab world digital news and opinion website in a recent opinion piece on Sunday. The fate of the region will be decided at the meeting in Tehran where officials from Iran, Turkey and Russia will be present to discuss the crisis in Syria, Atwan wrote. It is at the Tehran meeting that a new roadmap for the Middle East will be devised without political and military presence of the US, he added. He wrote that the crisis in Syria, Iran's military presence in the country, the Iran nuclear deal and possible hightening of tensions between Iran and the US and its regional allies could be the main topics of discussion between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump in Helsinki. Atwan also argued that Putin will have the upper hand during talks with Trump. Regarding Putin's upper-hand in Syria balances, it seems that Washington and Tel Aviv cannot expect realization of all their demands and Americans will be forced to leave Syria and Iraq with no preconditions and concessions, the Arab senior journalist said. The balance of power is not in favor of Washington, he stressed.