The Iranian embassy in Damascus will remain closed for the time being following the political upheaval in Syria, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Tehran on Tuesday.

“A reopening of the Iranian embassy in Syria is not imminent, as this initially requires political and security-related preparations,” Esmail Baghaei said, according to the news agency ISNA.

He added that Iran will take the necessary steps once these concerns are resolved.

In the upheaval following the overthrow of long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, insurgents stormed the Iranian embassy in Damascus and, according to Iranian media reports, thoroughly devastated it.

For Tehran, al-Assad was a strategically important ally in its self-declared resistance front against arch-enemy Israel.

Syria also served as a corridor for Iranian arms shipments to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Iran had, therefore, also generously supported al-Assad financially and militarily – and branded the Syrian alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) now in control in Damascus as terrorists.

(dpa/NAN)