The Obama administration is downplaying Iran’s role in atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in order to avoid endangering last summer’s landmark nuclear deal, a top lawmaker and experts tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Recent reports peg the death toll of Iranian soldiers killed in Syria at more than 1,000, while others have documented a broad range of Iranian assets in the country. The Iranians have also boasted about recruiting and supplying Shia fighters in Syria, imported from across the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia.
But longstanding congressional concerns that the Obama administration is minimizing the significance of Iranian aggression deepened late last week, after State Department spokesman John Kirby described Iran’s role in propping up the Assad regime as “certainly more of an advisory mission” during an interview on Friday.
Iran hawks, including Florida senator Marco Rubio, ripped the administration over the comments, which some characterized as an attempt to downplay Tehran’s destabilizing activities and dampen legislative efforts targeting Iran.
“[General Qasem] Soleimani is merely an advisor to Assad just like Mussolini was merely an advisor to Hitler. The Obama administration’s naiveté regarding Assad’s biggest backers, Iran and Russia, is truly stunning,” said Rubio, who has
called for new measures to push back against Iran.
A senior congressional aide used a different comparison to suggest that the administration is playing down Iran’s support for the Syrian regime in a last-ditch effort to protect relations with Tehran.
“Iran is playing an ‘advisory role’ in Syria like Colonel Sanders plays an ‘advisory role’ at the chicken coop. The administration is either lying to the American people to protect its rapidly-deteriorating relationship with Tehran, or these folks have actually begun to believe their own propaganda,” the aide said. “I’m not sure which is more frightening.”
The Associated Press reported in October that the Obama administration was broadly resisting congressional moves to impose sanctions relating to Syria because they might hurt Iran and give the Iranians an excuse to walk away from the nuclear deal.
Experts told TWS that the State Department’s remarks mirrored those of Iranian officials, including foreign minister Javad Zarif, who has said that Iran does not have “boots on the ground in Syria,” only “military advisers.”
“It’s a parroting of Iranian official propaganda. … It’s par for the course that they are gaslighting,” said Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “These people have been killed in combat. They weren’t just killed while sitting in an office.
“[Obama officials] don’t want to talk about Iran. They want to talk about Russia, but they don’t want to talk about Iran—and this has been a staple of how they address this issue for a long time,” he said.
Secretary of State John Kerry said in February that Iran has withdrawn a “significant number” of its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) troops from Syria.
A source who works closely with Congress on Iran issues told TWS that Kirby’s comments were part of a strategy to trivialize Iran’s activities until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in late January.
“The administration can’t admit what Iran is doing across the Middle East, because then it would have no excuse to ignore those atrocities even for the next few weeks,” the source said. “Their strategy now is to simply deny what Iran is doing until it all becomes Trump’s problem to deal with, and they’re already working with sympathetic journalists to blame the Syria catastrophe on him.”
The State Department defended Kirby’s comments to TWS.
“Spokesperson Kirby did not misspeak earlier on CNN with Wolf Blitzer,” a spokesperson said. “It is well known Iran is a key ally of the Syrian regime and has forces present and is coordinating closely with the regime forces in brutal attacks [on] civilians.”
Iran Air, which signed a deal with Boeing Sunday to purchase 80 planes, has conducted dozens of flights from Iran to Syria. Experts maintain that the airline, sanctioned in 2011 for ferrying goods on behalf of the IRGC and delisted under the nuclear deal, continues to ship weapons and personnel to the Syrian regime.
