An Analysis of French and Iran’s Foreign Policy towards Syria’s Crisis (2011-2016)

Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, the great powers have tried to play a role in it. Since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been a strategic ally of Syria. Iran has openly supported Bashar al-Assad government through financial and military aid. By the way, the political developments in Syria and its country matters to the French government. France was the first country to recognize the coalition of Syrian opposition forces as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. However, the 2015 Paris terrorist attack by ISIS convinced the French to alter their policy. Accordingly, France foreign policy towards Syria changed. This paper aims to study the foreign policy of Iran and France towards the Syrian crisis. The paper argues that Iranian foreign policy towards Syria is based on maintaining the status quo (the survival of Bashar al-Assad). Yet, France foreign policy towards these developments is a conservative offensive one in the form of convergence with the US.