Iran is declaring a red line in Syria on the use of chemical weapons … by insurgents.
I think this is more believable than Obama’s red line on use by the government.
Iran already is deeply involved in backing Assad, but needs an excuse to perpetrate a full-blown intervention. That excuse might be the breach of a “red line” by insurgents — a parlay of our implicit threat to intervene.
Via Jerusalem Post:
Iran said on Tuesday it regarded the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war as a “red line”, echoing major adversary the United States but saying Syrian rebels were the main culprit and not the Damascus government….
US President Barack Obama has warned Damascus that deployment of chemical weapons could trigger consequences for Assad – language widely interpreted to include military intervention so far shunned by Washington. Obama has also called resort to chemical arms a “red line” Assad must not cross.
In calling chemical weapons use a “red line” for Iran, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi did not indicate what action Tehran – one of Assad’s staunchest political and military allies – might take in the case that a poison gas attack by either side in the conflict were to be proven.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
the use of chemical weapons … by insurgents
That’s an interesting twist. I wonder who is right. The “rebels” or insurgents have even less credibility than the Syrian government.