Moscow and Tehran Are Perfect Partners

When he won election, Donald Trump—along with his national security adviser Michael Flynn, his all-purpose counselor Stephen Bannon, and, perhaps, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner—was fond of the idea that Russia and Iran, comrades-in-arms in Syria, weren't natural partners. Flynn was particularly open about his desire to create a new Moscow-Washington alignment against Islamic militants. The pro-Russia, anti-Iran crowd never explained exactly how this strategic jujitsu might be done, except to suggest that the White House might turn a blind eye—blinder than Barack Obama's—to Russian ambitions in Ukraine and work to reverse American and European sanctions levied after Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea.Flynn and Bannon are gone, Congress has passed further sanctions against Russia, the administration has shuttered more of Moscow's diplomatic posts in the United States, and Trump and his family appear to be enmeshed in never-ending Russia troubles. Yet the president and others in the White House still harbor the hope that Moscow and Washington can find common ground in confronting Islamic militancy. Trump's Warsaw speech in July highlighted this transcendent fear of Islam unhinged. Syria consumed much of Trump's two-hour meeting with Putin at the G-20 summit. His recent Afghanistan speech underscored the president's intention to work with all parties against Islamic terrorism: “In this effort, we will make common cause with any nation that chooses to stand and fight alongside us against this global threat.” And Putin regularly defends his intervention in Syria as a counterterrorist operation.