A game of nuance

ENAR

There has been a note of triumph in Iran’s welcoming of Bashar al-Assad’s reelection. “In Syria, America is building castles in the air,” said Major General Hassan Firuzabadi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, proclaiming the Syrian opposition “defeated”. And there was confidence as well as grief in the recent public mourning of Abdollah Eskandari, a retired commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), captured and beheaded by rebels in Syria. But there is also relief. The bulk of those in Iran’s leadership are pragmatic, and part of their pragmatism consists of reacting to others. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stressed many times the importance of Iran assessing Washington’s motives, especially concerning whether it wants to overthrow the Islamic Republic. The government’s position on Syria has been nuanced. While Iran has sent IRGC officers to Syria, helped recruit Shia fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq, and most importantly encouraged