The other US strategy toward Iran, and its motives

"CENTCOM Commander General James Mattis said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that forcing Assad from power would be “the biggest strategic setback for Iran in 25 years.”21 Senator John McCain, then the senior Republican on the panel, agreed with Mattis saying, “the end of the Assad regime could sever Hezbollah’s lifeline to Iran, eliminate a longstanding threat to Israel, bolster Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence, and remove a committed state sponsor of terrorism that is engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It would be a geopolitical success of the first order.”22 Iran’s Supreme Leader’s advisor for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati said in late January that Iran would consider an attack on Syria to be an attack on itself.23 Just a week earlier, Velayati had said that Assad was a critical ally, and that his fate was a “red line” for Tehran.24 Forcing Assad’s exit would deprive Iran of a key strategic ally." (thanks Haifaa)