The Folly of Inviting Iran to Fight ISIS

_69935203_018314168-1There has been considerable pressure from the leftists and Democrats to include the Islamic Republic of Iran in the core coalition of Western allies that have joined to fight the Islamic State. The core coalition consists of Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark. Turkey, which is led by the Islamic Justice and Development Party of Recep Erdogan, has been notably less cooperative than expected.

Some national and international outlets, along with policy analysts, are beating the drum that without the Islamic Republic defeating the Islamic State is impossible. As one pro-Iranian outlet asserted, “If Obama thinks he can fight the Islamic State group without Iran’s help, he’s mistaken.” 

This academic, naïve and immature argument – that the assistance of the Islamic Republic is needed to counteract the rise of an Islamic terrorist group –  has been resurfacing repeatedly for almost a decade. This view falls right into the hands and interests of the Iranian regime. This argument comes from two camps: the first camp  consist of those who desire to project the Islamic Republic’s power to be more than it actually is. The second camp of individuals present and reflect their minimal understanding and naïveté in comprehending the power structure of the Middle East, the power of the Islamic Republic, and its role in the Middle East.

First of all, Iran’s military power in comparison to that of European countries and the core coalition is minimal. Exaggerating about the military power of the Islamic Republic and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps falls right into the hand of the Iranian regime and the mullahs.

By doing so, the Islamic Republic has managed to project itself as the only option,  regional power, and more fundamentally, partner of the West (specifically the United States) in defeating ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Secondly, the security threat posed by ISIS has shifted the attention from Iran’s nuclear program, and this is what the Iranian regime is searching for. While Iran’s nuclear defiance used to command more attention in the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda (and other members of the P5+1) when it comes to Iran, the geopolitical and security threat of ISIS has shifted priorities.

More fundamentally, the Islamic Republic was the major reason behind the emergence and creation of the terrorist group the Islamic State. Iran’s military, financial, intelligence, advisory, and security support of the Assad government have been instrumental in keeping the Alawites in power. However, the Islamic Republic’s assistance has also caused the uprising to spiral into a full-fledged civil war and sectarian conflict. Iran’s support contributed further to the instability in the country.

The Iranian and Syrian governments’ use of brutal force further radicalized and militarized the conflict. The Islamic Republic’s (and its proxy Hezbollah’s) involvement in the Syrian conflict ratcheted up the sectarian language as well, pitting the Sunnis, the Shias and Alawites against each other.

This particular milieu provided the platform for Al-Qaeda affiliates and groups such as ISIS to develop, organize, recruit more members, and coordinate more efficiently.

It goes without saying that from the beginning the Islamic Republic’s line for the Syrian uprising has been that Assad has been attacked by terrorists, Takfiris, or radical Sunni Islamist groups. The Syrian regime employed the same argument to legitimize its use of hard power and prevent foreign intervention as well.

The Syrian regime, with the assistance of Iranian advisors, released several ISIS members and Salafists from prison in late 2011 and early 2012 in order to strengthen Damascus and Tehran’s argument that Assad has been a target of radical terrorist groups rather than a popular uprising.  The ISIS recruitment significantly intensified during this time.

At the beginning, the rise of such radical groups fell right into the interests of the Iranian and Syrian regime. The Islamic Republic and Syria were strategically successful at sending the West, and particularly the United States, a robust message that there is no alternative to Assad, and any military or foreign intervention would exacerbate the conflict.

In addition, the elite Quds Forces, a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, has gained significant power in Iraq and Syria since the rise of ISIS. The Iranian government no longer sees a need to hide their involvement of its troops on the ground in these countries. The growing role of the IRGC and Quds Forces is being justified by Iran’s claim that it is fighting ISIS. In addition, the United States sees no other option other than to turn a blind eye on the increasing role of Iranian forces.

Militarily speaking, there is no need for the Islamic Republic to defeat the Islamic State. Ideologically and religiously speaking, the Iranian regime’s policies are not that different from the Islamic State when it comes to executions, amputations, stoning, suppressing women, persecuting minorities, destabilizing the region, among others. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic does these acts in a more systematic way, and they are legalized under its Islamist and Shari’a law-based legislative, judiciary and executive systems.

By requesting that the Islamic Republic assist in defeating the Islamic State, we will be playing right into their hands. The Iranian regime will project itself as the sole power in the Middle East and continue more assertively to pursue its regional hegemonic ambitions and nuclear objectives. Secondly, the West would be legitimizing and emboldening the authoritarian and Islamist regime of the mullahs. Third, the Iranian leaders will use the partnership with the West as well as the West’s request to join them as leverage in obtaining more concessions from the United States when it comes to nuclear talks. The Iranian regime will use this as a platform to maneuver more in the nuclear negotiations and paint the picture that it is an indispensable regional power.

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  • TeresaJDraper

    my Aunty Mila got a 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV by working parttime from a computer. view it now becomerich.com

  • Virgil Hilts

    This seems to be the CRUX of the whole issue:

    “By requesting that the Islamic Republic assist in defeating the Islamic
    State, we will be playing right into their hands. The Iranian regime
    will project itself as the sole power in the Middle East and continue
    more assertively to pursue its regional hegemonic ambitions and nuclear
    objectives. Secondly, the West would be legitimizing and emboldening the
    authoritarian and Islamist regime of the mullahs. Third, the Iranian
    leaders will use the partnership with the West as well as the West’s
    request to join them as leverage in obtaining more concessions from the
    United States when it comes to nuclear talks. The Iranian regime will
    use this as a platform to maneuver more in the nuclear negotiations and
    paint the picture that it is an indispensable regional power.”
    Of course, O’Bozo and his supporters have NO clue regarding this effect; even though they are doing whatever they can to bring it to pass.

    • Sara

      Caliph Hussein knows what he’s doing, exactly why he’s doing whatever he can to bring it to pass.

      • Virgil Hilts

        Sheesh!! We can see all of this. What’s the matter with the people in D.C. with ‘D’s and R’s after their name? Is it willful ignorance…or has bribery blinded the eyes? I’m opting for the latter. Proverbs 21:6. “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them who seek death.”

        • Sara

          Definitely the latter.

          • Virgil Hilts

            Quite the verse, huh, Ma’am? BTW..forgot to attribute the verse. KJV.

          • Sara

            Very fitting.

  • Gee

    Iran has demanded that Israel be removed as a condition for aid. And just like Chamberlain Jihad Johnny Kerry just sat there and said nothing.

  • Clarecho

    Hundreds of words and not one mention of the core issue: both the Islamic State and Iran are jihadist states! They fight jihad for the same thing: shariah. In effect, and perhaps even more than that, they are on the same side of this thing and it is not the side of the US, Israel or Western-style liberal democracy. In addition to which, Iran was the key sponsor of IS’s forerunner, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, when he operated out of northern Iraq in the mid-2000s.

  • Christopher Riddle

    Inviting Iran to fight”ISIS”,is like having Satan sit in on Sunday School!!!

    • Harry_the_Horrible

      Dunno. I was hoping it would be something like having two people you really hate beat each other to death.

      • Christopher Riddle

        That “Sounds Good”,but I don’t think this will work out like that!

  • RMThoughts

    Despite years of rhetoric attempting to differentiate what the West calls moderates” from Al Nusra, and the ISIS it is a fact days before ISIS crossed into Iraq triggering the latest geopolitical crisis in the region, ISIS was fighting alongside so-called moderates in an attack on Syria’s town of Kassab along the border with Turkey who was providing aircover for the attack launched from Turkish territory.

    The fact remains that the only genuine fight against Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups in the region, has been by the Syrian government and its military.

    • SCREW SOCIALISM

      The lesser of two evils is still evil.

      Why can’t the “cradle of civilization” be civilized?

      • RMThoughts

        The question remains whether in those prevalently Muslim Middle east Countries people are Muslims because they are savages, or are savages because they are Muslims. I tend for the second, seen that the Christian minorities present in many of those Countries do not show the same, ahem, character traits. But in the end, the conclusion is the same: you can’t throw pearls before swines, or democracies before Muslim Arabs

  • MrUniteUs1

    Release the Iranians

    • SCREW SOCIALISM

      From a plane flying at 30,000 feet.

  • SCREW SOCIALISM

    DEATH to fascist iran!
    HANG the ayatollahs!
    HANG their revolutionary gestapo!

    LONG LIVE PERSIA!

  • SCREW SOCIALISM

    The US will invade YOUR country and punish your brothers and sisters of Satan.

  • Matthew Johnston

    It is not so much that Iran is fighting Sunni groups it is that the US and the GCC have been roped into attacking the people they armed for fear of terrorism. Which you may have to cop, in the bigger picture of removing Assad and breaking the axis. Bringing down Iran. It is what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve your objective. How much blood before they weaken two westerners. We lost more than that in attack in Europe, not happy about it but when you deal in large number 6 million there is a higher tolerance to sacrificing a few drops of blood when looking at the bigger picture.

  • MrUniteUs1

    Iran is a majority Shiite muslim country and a strong supporter of Assad in Syria..
    Sunni majorities in Iraq and Syria, resent the fact their countries are run by Shiitte minorities. FORMER Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki kicked Americans out, bad mistake. But worse was al-Maliki decisions to kick Sunnis out of government. Instead fighting ISIL many Sunni Iraqi army chose to flee leaving Americans weapons in their hands. Others joined ISIL. Some Americans resent the fact that President Obama is President because of his skin tone. Now imagine if President Obama fired all Caucasian Federal workers. How would you feel? The way many Sunnis felt about FORMER Nour al-Maliki.