The writer of this article claims that Iran has officially admitted its big losses in Khan Touman (which is unusual) in order to justify its withdrawal from the Aleppo battle.

Iran usually never admits defeat. If you believe the Iranian official announcements, you will think that Iran has never known any defeats or setbacks since the revolution in 1979.

However, according to this report the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have promised to take Khan Touman back. Qasem Soleimani is already in Aleppo to lead the battle there. The Iranian news agencies فارس & تسنيم have criticized the Russians and held them responsible for the Iranian losses in Khan Touman. According to those news agencies, what happened in Khan Touman was because the Russians trusted the Americans on the truce.

Given all that information, the theory referred to in the beginning of the article turns out to be mere wishful thinking. It is obvious that the Iranian hardliners are not in the mood for withdrawing from Syria. They are making a big fuss about their losses in Khan Touman because they want to get rid of the truce.

As I explained before, the Iranians have been for a long time preparing to attack Aleppo. The truce in Aleppo was forced on them by the Russians and Americans. They are now using what happened at Khan Touman to justify breaching the truce. They just do not want the truce.

The Iranian foreign ministry has called what happened in Khan Touman a breach of the truce. That is the whole point. The Iranians are telling the world that the truce has been breached, and it was not they who breached it. The Russians and Americans have failed to maintain the truce. Thus, Iran is not responsible for the bloodshed that is to come.