Syria’s future and its opportunities and challenges for the Islamic Republic of Iran

From the first days, the Syrian crisis was not only the area of internal conflict, but also a field for the interconnected or opposite interests of different regional and transnational actors. So the future of Syria will affect the interests of these actors. Given the importance of preserving or removing Assad from power in the future of Syria, the paper ties to answer to this question: preserving or removing Bashar al-Assad what are the opportunities and challenges for the Islamic Republic of Iran? To answer this question, we have used the future study method (exploratory approach) and the scenario technique. The research findings show that there are four possible scenarios according to existing trends: first: preservation of Bashar al-Assad-consolidation of Iran’s influence; second: preservation of Bashar al-Assad-consolidation of Russia’s influence-reduction of Iran’s influence; third: preservation of Bashar al-Assad-the division of power among the Kurds, the Alevis and the Sunnis; and fourth: Assad’s removal from power-reduction of Iran’s influence-increasing the influence of Iran regional rivals. Evidence shows that the second scenario is the most likely scenario.