Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Senior Iranian officials are claiming that Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have defeated the U.S.-led campaign to topple the Syrian dictator.

“We have won in Syria,” Alaeddin Borujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, told The Guardian. “The regime will stay. The Americans have lost it.”

At least 150,000 people have been killed during Syria’s three-year-old civil war, which has become increasingly sectarian with an opposition becoming dominated by radical al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups. On the other side, Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, as well as Russia, have provided fighters, supplies, and political cover to the Assad regime.

Another senior Iranian official said that the U.S. has failed to present a viable alternative in Syria.

“We won the game in Syria easily. The U.S. does not understand Syria. The Americans wanted to replace Assad, but what was the alternative? All they have done is encourage radical groups and made the borders less safe,” Amir Mohebbian, an Iranian government strategist and adviser, told The Guardian.

Syria is scheduled to hold a presidential election on June 3. It is widely expected that Assad will remain in power.