It didn't take long for questions to begin in Iran about the fate of the bad debts in Syria. At his weekly briefing, Tehran Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baqaie was asked by a journalist, "What about Syria's debts to Iran worth $50 billion?"

Baqaie denied that this was the case, claiming that "this is an exaggerated figure," but did not deny that Syria owed Iran anything.

The spokesman emphasized that the agreements signed between Iran and Syria during the Assad era are "agreements between two countries that must be honored."