Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

President Hassan Rouhani said Iran’s military intervention in Syria and Iraq helped Tehran in its nuclear negotiations with world powers, the Saudi-owned pan-Arab news outlet Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday.

At a ceremony honoring Iranian nuclear negotiators, Rouhani said the presence of Tehran’s generals, intelligence officers and Revolutionary Guard Corps fighters in the two Arab states provided the Islamic Republic with a sufficient margin of security to make concessions on its nuclear program.

The implication of this statement, according to Al Arabiya, was that the p5+1 countries had acquiesced to Iranian operations in Syria and Iraq.

Rouhani’s remarks came after repeated Iranian denials that regional issues had been discussed during nuclear negotiations, or that nuclear concessions had been made by Tehran.