Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has been using the Sunni revolt in
Syria as a lever in nuclear talks with Iran.

Western diplomatic sources said the administration of President Barack
Obama has proposed a settlement in which Teheran would retain influence in
Syria as part of a so-called grand bargain that would resolve the crisis of
Iran’s nuclear program. The sources said the White House has been threatening to
intensify aid to the Sunni rebels as a means to pressure Iran to reach an
agreement in 2013.

“I think that the United States has not taken a more active role in
Syria from the beginning because they didn’t want to disturb the
possibility, to give them space, to negotiate with Iran,” former European
Union foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana said. “They probably
knew that getting very engaged against Assad, engaged even militarily, could contribute to a break in the potential negotiations with Teheran.”

In a discussion at the Brookings Institution on April 1, Solana, who
served as the top Western negotiator with Iran until 2009, said Obama has also sought to retain U.S. relations with Russia, the leading military
supplier to the Assad regime.

“With Russia, we need to be much more engaged in order to resolve the
Syrian problem and, at the end, the question of Teheran,” Solana said.

The sources dismissed the prospect of a major U.S. drive to arm or
significantly enhance Sunni rebel operations in Syria. They said talks by
Secretary of State John Kerry with NATO foreign ministers and Syrian
opposition leaders marked an attempt to pressure Iran by hinting at military
intervention.

“The United States has other vital foreign policy objectives that make
it difficult to double down on Syria,” said Joshua Landis, a leading U.S.
analyst on Syria and close to the State Department.

In late February, Kerry met NATO foreign ministers and Syrian
opposition leaders in what officials said could result in the first direct
military aid to the Sunni rebels. Officials said Washington was drafting
plans to supply the rebels with non-lethal military equipment as well as
the deployment of military advisers.

“We all agree that the time has passed for President Assad to heed the
voice of his people and the voice of the people in the world who want a
peaceful transition and a new opportunity for Syria,” Kerry said. “He needs
to know that he can’t shoot his way out of this. We need to convince him of
that, and I think the opposition needs more help in order to be able to do
that.”

But the diplomats ruled out the prospect of any significant U.S. or
Western military aid to the Sunni rebels. They said most NATO members oppose
military intervention, and that Obama’s priority is an agreement with Iran,
the leading patron of Assad.

“Obama has been consistently against any significant military help to
the rebels,” a diplomat said. “What the president wants is to sustain the
Sunni rebellion as a means to pressure Iran to come to an agreement on the
nuclear and other issues.”

Officials said the Sunni rebels face a shortage of munitions. They cited
anti-tank guided and surface-to-air missiles, proposed by leading members of
the House and Senate.

“There are plenty of weapons in Syria,” Sen. Marco Rubio said. “What
the opposition really needs is access to ammunition. Ammunition is something
we can provide that is not weaponry per se, but is essential. That’s the stuff
I’m prepared to advocate for.”

  Brookings Institution, Javier Solana, John Kerry, Obama seen using Syria as lever in ‘grand bargain’ with Iran, Sen. Marco Rubio