The candidacy of a cleric well known for his role in the atrocious crimes by the regime ruling Iran over the past three decades was announced. Ebrahim Raisi, currently head of the massive Astan Quds Razavi entity in control of a sacred Shiite M...

The candidacy of a cleric well known for his role in the atrocious crimes by the regime ruling Iran over the past three decades was announced.  Ebrahim Raisi, currently head of the massive Astan Quds Razavi entity in control of a sacred Shiite M...

How will Trump's Syrian missile strikes affect tensions with Iran?

How will Trump's Syrian missile strikes affect tensions with Iran?: President Trump's decision to target the Syrian airfields used to carry out Tuesday's horrific chemical attacks may mark a major change in the direction of the six-year-old Syrian civil war. At the very least, it was a welcome break from the previous administration's penchant to let Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad off the hook for his war crimes. Still, it will be interesting to see how Trump's Syrian missile strikes affect tensions with Iran. In 2013, Assad staged a similar chemical bomb raid against a Damascus suburb. But Obama refrained from taking firm action and instead decided to stay on the sidelines and back off from his red lines. The main beneficiaries of this hands-off approach were the Assad regime and Assad's patrons in Tehran. Assad got away with murder and the Iranian regime got the green light to relentlessly increase its violent meddling in Syria.