The New York Times quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof on why it is naive to think that a nuclear deal with Iran will help resolve other conflicts in the Middle East:
Despite White House hopes, many experts say it is naïve to expect that Iran, which provides critical military support to Mr. Assad as well as to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, would be receptive to the administration’s overtures.
“I don’t see any evidence that Iran is increasingly disposed toward facilitating a negotiated solution to the Syrian crisis,” Frederic C. Hof, a former Senior State Department Official in the Obama administration and now an expert on Syria at the Atlantic Council, told reporters this week. “On the contrary, I think Iran and Hezbollah have been engaged in some very intensive consultations centering on the question of just how much of Assad’s Syria they will defend.”