MIDDLE EAST FORUM
The ISIS/Iran Conundrum
by Lee Smith
December 29, 2015

The obsessive international preoccupation with ISIS notwithstanding, Iranian expansionism poses a far greater threat to U.S. interests and regional allies than the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Tehran boasts control of four Arab capitals (Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sana) as well as a number of powerful Shiite militias (from Hezbollah, to the Houthis, to various Iraqi groups), and has warmed relations with Moscow following the latter’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war. As a result, Washington has effectively abandoned its longstanding goal of toppling President Bashar Assad – Tehran’s (and Russia’s) foremost regional protégé – whose relentless sectarian cleansing has not only decimated Syria’s Sunni population but has flooded Europe with illegal immigrants. READ MORE