Iran using sanctions relief to undermine U.S. interests in Middle East

Iran is on a roll in the Middle East, becoming a dominant military player in Iraq, rescuing the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, bringing down a U.S. ally in Yemen and building its surrogate Hezbollah terrorist army into a political force in Lebanon and throughout the region.

Also, the hard-line Shiite regime is on the verge of inking a deal with the U.S. and other nations that would allow it to keep its sprawling nuclear components intact. Tehran would gain economic sanctions relief, creating hard cash to fund its military and the foreign exploits of the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. A U.S. senator says there are indications that Iran already is using money freed up by the Obama administration to further bolster the Quds Force.

In short, Iran, which U.S. intelligence says is ultimately responsible for the deaths of many Americans, including service members in the Iraq War, is well on the way to becoming what President Obama said it could be — “a very successful regional power,” though not in the ways he envisions.

The geopolitical scorecard is scribbled and confused: Iran is an unstated ally of America in Iraq because it is battling the Islamic State terrorist army. It is an adversary in Syria because it supports the Assad regime and fights the Free Syrian Army, but it is an ally in the front against the Syrian-based Islamic State. In Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, Iran opposes and aims to disrupt U.S. polices as it tries to destabilize governments.

“From Tehran’s perspective, it’s all good,” said Simon Henderson, a scholar at The Washington Institute think tank and a longtime observer of Persian Gulf states.

Looking at the region from the vantage point of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr. Henderson said: “Think of the supreme leader as being a 1960s anti-American. He loathes the U.S. He thinks he has outmaneuvered Washington so is overjoyed. But he may still hate and mistrust Washington so much that he won’t endorse an agreement. Even if sanctions are not lifted, he probably judges many of them will collapse. That’s his worldview.”

In Syria’s civil war, Iran has prevented the collapse of the Assad regime, delivering a setback to the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army and keeping the Sunni extremist Islamic State away from Damascus. Iran has achieved battlefield advances through its surrogate, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, and its Quds Force, which specializes in the darker aspects of special operations and intelligence.

In Iraq, Hezbollah and Quds have come to dominate the Shiite militias now doing the bulk of the fighting in an Iraqi counteroffensive to retake the Sunni city of Tikrit from the Islamic State.

The fighters include elements of the Hezbollah Brigade, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that, with Iran’s funding and training, took delight in killing American service members during the long Iraq War.

Iran’s role is so dominant in the Tikrit offensive that Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, with Secretary of State John F. Kerry at his side, declared last week at a joint press conference, “Iran is taking over the country.”

‘Comfortable with the status quo’

Iran also dispatched Hezbollah to Yemen, where it aided Shiite Houthi separatists in bringing down the U.S.-backed government that Mr. Obama touted weeks earlier as an American success story.

“Hezbollah is a very dangerous organization,” former Defense Intelligence Director Michael T. Flynn told the House Committee on Armed Services. “They are responsible for killing many, many Americans, and we need to not let them sort of get a pass on any of this.”

A newer target for Iran is Shiite-majority Bahrain, a Saudi Arabia-supported regime that has cracked down on dissent. Quds operatives have spread to Africa and are helping the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, in its continuing conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

“The Iranians seem pretty comfortable with the status quo — largely because that status quo is pretty favorable to them,” writes Kenneth Pollack, a Middle East analyst at the Brookings Institution. “Their Shiite allies are dominant in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. In Syria, the Assad regime remains in power and is making important gains against its opposition with no sign of impending collapse.”

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