The nuclear accord is unlikely to improve the broader U.S.-Iranian relationship and on the contrary, it could get much worse, a US former ambassador to Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan says, according to the article published in The Inquirer.
Ryan Crocker, an experienced negotiator with the Iranians, says: ‘To me, this is a transactional relationship, not transformational, just like the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated pretty good arms agreements.’
“I don’t see any sign that Iran is going to change its policies in the region,” Crocker said in a telephone interview. “We need to make it clear that this is not a bold new dawn.”
Crocker says: “Iran is pushing in the region as if there were no nuclear agreement, and they don’t seem worried that they will jeopardize it.”
The Inquirer article adds that any U.S> administration hopes that a new relationship with Iran will translate into progress on shaky Syria peace talks are badly misplaced and the same caution holds true in Iraq, where Iranian regime and its local Iraqi Shiite proxies, have blocked that approach.
The article adds that the United States ‘should push back much harder against Iranian behavior that fuels sectarian war in the Mideast.’