US President Donald Trump's historic meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, has not gone over well with the hard-line media in Iran.
Moderate outlets largely stuck to straight reporting of the meeting, but conservative media -- upset over Syria's sharp pivot away from Tehran -- criticized Trump for meeting with the insurgent-turned-president.
The backlash reflects growing anxiety in Tehran over the loss of Syria, once a crucial part of Iran's regional strategy. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad late last year, the new Syrian leadership has moved swiftly to distance itself from Iran, seeking new alliances with Arab neighbors and warming up to the West in a bid to lift sanctions.
Compounding the pressure, Iran is now entangled in high-stakes nuclear negotiations with the United States, where time and leverage may both be slipping away.
Trump met with Sharaa -- a former insurgent known under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- on the sidelines of a gathering with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh on May 14, a day after pledging to lift sanctions on Syria.
The US president said he had made the decision in a bid to provide Syria with "an opportunity for greatness" as the country looks to rebuild after 14 years of civil war and economic devastation.
Hard-line newspaper Keyhan, whose chief editor is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, derided Trump's talk with Sharaa and described it as a meeting between "Jolani the terrorist" and "the terrorist godfather."
The Islamic republic has long alleged that the United States funds extremist groups in the Middle East to destabilize the region and has dismissed Washington's campaign in the region against those groups as a farce.
Tasnim, an affiliate of the US-blacklisted Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), echoed that sentiment, describing the Trump-Sharaa meeting as the United States "formalizing its relationship with Takfiri groups" -- a term used by the Islamic republic to refer to militants groups that it claims have ties to regional Sunni states.
Other hard-line media noted that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group Sharaa led before toppling the government of Iran- and Russia-backed Assad in December, was still designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Is Iran Out Of The Picture For Syria?
The fall of Assad dealt a major blow to Iran, which relied heavily on Syria to link its "axis of resistance," its network of regional allies and proxies.
Sharaa has been welcomed by most Arab nations in the region and has received dozens of international delegations, including European diplomats. Earlier this month, he traveled to France to meet President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump, who described Sharaa as "a young attractive guy" with a "strong past," urged the Syrian leader to normalize relations with Israel as one of five conditions to reset ties with Washingtons.
Iran's influence in Syria effectively vanished with the fall of Assad, but Russia has tried to establish relations with the new government and maintain its bases in the country.
"Russia exploited the fact that Syria remained sanctioned and that the United States and Europe were dragging their feet on sanctions removal," Nicole Grajewski, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told RFE/RL.
She noted that while the decision to lift sanctions is "significant," it is "not transformative" as Syria still needs investment and there are outstanding issues between minorities and the government as well as the status of the Kurds.
Iran, however, is pretty much out of the picture for now.
"They lack the economic capital to help with reconstruction and are viewed [by Syrians] much more negatively than Russia," she added.
Could Iran Get Its Sanctions Lifted, Too?
Referring to reports that Trump's announcement on lifting sanctions on Syria surprised the State and Treasury departments, UK-based political commentator Hossein Derakhshan argued that Iran really only needs to reach a deal with the US president to remove sanctions.
"Iran needs to understand that this opportunity will not repeat itself and the lifting of primary and secondary sanctions is worth suspending uranium enrichment for 25 years, or even more!" he wrote on X.
Trump said during his tour of the region this week that the United States is "getting close to maybe doing a deal" with Iran on its nuclear program. "We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace," he said.
Meanwhile, Ali Shamkhani, a senior aide to Khamenei, told NBC News that Iran would commit to never making a nuclear weapon, ship out highly enriched uranium, and agree to enrich uranium to levels needed for civilian use if Trump agreed to immediately remove sanctions against Tehran.
Jihadi media specialist Mina al-Lami said jihadist and hard-line Islamists inside and outside of Syria worry that Sharaa will "sell out" foreign fighters and normalize ties with Israel, and even crack down on Islamic projects in Syria.
"Nevertheless, hardliners are struggling to rally broader support, as the lifting of sanctions is widely seen as a major win for Sharaa, and a clear boost to his image and credibility as a political leader," she wrote on X.
