US envoy insists Syria pullout doesn’t affect Iran strategy

The Trump administration’s special envoy for Iran insisted to incredulous lawmakers on Wednesday that President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria would not embolden Tehran.

When pressed repeatedly by senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, special envoy Brian Hook said Trump’s retreat from Syria would not affect the administration’s so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

“We are very comfortable with our Iran strategy in Syria,” Hook told the committee.

{mosads}Trump’s decision “does not hurt our Iran strategy,” he added.

Pressed again later in the hearing, Hook said “we do not believe that it changes the dynamic with Iran.”

“The president’s decision with respect to Syria is not going to change our Iran strategy or the efficacy of it,” he said.

Trump has ordered all U.S. troops in northern Syria to withdraw, paving the way for Turkey to launch an offensive against Kurdish forces that were instrumental in the U.S.-led fight against ISIS.

In the wake of that decision, the Kurds have made a deal with Syrian government and Russian forces to move into the area to protect them from Turkey.

U.S. officials have long said one of the goals of the U.S. presence in Syria was to curb Iran’s influence in the Middle East. Tehran has troops in Syria supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in the country’s 8-year civil war.

But on Wednesday, Hook claimed that “our forces in northeast Syria have never had an Iran mission set.”

Despite Hook’s insistences, senators in both parties were unconvinced.

“I presume Iran was smiling from ear to ear as Turkey rushed into Syria,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said.

“Things are not better for Iran in the Middle East as we have gone, as Turkey has hit the Kurds and the Kurds have now allied with Assad?” a disbelieving Romney pressed Hook. “Surely Assad is stronger. And this isn’t good for Iran?”

Hook responded, saying: “Our military is in Syria for ISIS. Our diplomacy is focused on Iran.”

“I hear you, but diplomacy has impact if there’s a military that’s strong and in the region,” Romney replied. “That’s a dramatic perspective on your part, that Iran is not celebrating what’s happening in Syria.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Hook it was hard for her to understand “that you appear to think there’s no connection between what’s going to happen in Syria and our efforts to address what’s happening in Iran.”

“The shift by Kurdish forces who were our partners in the fight against ISIL away from the United States and into alignment with Iran and Russia I believe is going to have serious implications for Syria and for the region,” she said, using an alternate acronym for ISIS. 

“We had a very small amount of troops partnering with Kurdish [forces] to maintain a significant area in northeast Syria that was stable where the United States had influence, where we were wanted,” she added. “And what you’re telling me now is that we have pulled out those troops and we have greater leverage than we had before?”