Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met with his Syrian counterpart and discussed, inter alia, “Tehran’s support for the Syrian nation and government against the inauspicious phenomena of extremism and terrorism”; Zarif also posited that U.S. sanctions were “depriving the Iranian and Syrian people of [the] COVID-19 vaccine”. According to an Iranian readout, the Syrian official “appreciated Iran’s support for the people and government of Syria, and underlined the necessity of the two countries’ cooperation”. Zarif also met President Bashar al-Assad and noted the “role that can be played… by pioneering countries behind the Axis of Resistance” in supporting the Palestinian cause, and updated Assad regarding “the latest developments in the Vienna nuclear talks… as well as the regional movements of the Islamic Republic of Iran in relations with other countries in the region”.