Huffington Post quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof on the role of Iran and the Obama administration in the ongoing conflict in Syria:
Analysts and officials have indicated recently that Iranian influence on U.S. policy has grown because the Obama administration wants to keep Tehran happy so it can reach a deal on its nuclear program. Former Obama Syria adviser Frederic Hof, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council, suggested in a blog post Wednesday that this concern may be behind “the virtual erasure of Syria” from the administration’s latest rhetoric about the ISIS fight. Hof told The Huffington Post in an email that the administration started to see Iran, rather than Russia, as the key player in Syria just last year. Now, he said, “Iran’s support for the regime is critical” for Assad’s survival.