The US and Iran still have totally opposite objectives in Syria

“Yes, there is a strategy,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said of US policy in Syria in his December 5th address at the Brookings Institution.

 

The US strategy, he explained, has three components: “Mobilising a coalition to defeat Daesh” — the Islamic State; to “work diplomati­cally” with Iran, among other countries, “to bring an end to the war in Syria”; and “ensure that the instability created by the war in Syria does not spread.”

 

But are Washington and Tehran pursuing the same goals in Syria?

 

At first glance, there are reasons that suggest that they could: the emer­gence of Iranian President Hassan Rohani, his promise of engaging in bilateral talks with the United States, the July nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1, and the menacing rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) have led some in the West to hope for a new alignment of strate­gic interests between Washington and Tehran.

 

Read More: The US and Iran still have totally opposite objectives in Syria – Business Insider