From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Top Trump adviser: US, Israel, Russia all want Iran out of Syria
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleUS National Security Adviser John Bolton, on a visit to Israel, says the US, Israel and Russia share the objective of removing Iranian and Iranian-led forces from Syria, and ending Iran’s backing of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
“The objective of the United States, of Israel — President Putin said it was Russia’s objective — is to get Iran, Iranian forces, Iranian militias, Iranian surrogates out of the offensive operations they’re in in both Syria and Iraq, and, frankly, to end Iran’s support for Hezbollah,” Bolton tells Martha Raddatz of ABC News in a Sunday morning interview.
“I think the president’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has put a real crimp into the Iranian economy. I think they’re feeling it and their capability for the Quds Force or the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to conduct offensive operations in – in the region here and in Yemen as well” is reduced, Bolton insisted.
“But I think this is part of the problem with the Iranian regime generally and why it’s such a threat to peace and security not just because of its nuclear program, but because of its military operations and its support for terrorism.”
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not view Russia’s interests as aligned with Iran’s in Syria, despite the two nations’ forces fighting alongside each other to maintain the regime of Bashar Assad.
“I think President Putin is very candid in his comments to President Trump, he was to me as well…. He said he didn’t have the same interest as Iran in Syria. And that he’d like to talk about ways to get out of them.”
The US policy in Syria was focused on “the final destruction of the ISIS territorial caliphate, dealing with the ISIS territorial threat and – and getting Iran back into – getting its forces back into its own territory.”
The Times of Israel Community.