Democratic Rep. [crscore]Adam Schiff[/crscore] says, “I am not sure what’s productively to be gained by having Iran as part of the conversation,” adding that Iran is “definitely part of the problem” in Syria.
Appearing on “MSNBC Live” with José Díaz-Balart Wednesday, Schiff argued that the United States, Russia and Iran working together in Syria is “potentially a big shift.”
“I am not sure what’s productively to be gained by having Iran as part of the conversation right now,” explained Schiff. “They’re definitely part of the problem. At some point they will be part of the discussion on the end game. But right now I don’t think that’s where they’re going to play a constructive role.”
Iran’s “interest is in changing the dynamic on the battlefield,” Schiff explained. “And I am concerned, I guess, with the impact this will have on our allies the Saudis and others. How they’ll perceive this overture to Iran.”
“In terms of the potential for military escalation, you know these special operations troops that may be doing more raids like we saw in Syria to try to grab Abu Sayyaf,” he said. “They’re risky operations and the challenge is that they have to be conducted at a certain tempo so that you can exploit intelligence, go on to further targets and, if we don’t do them at a certain tempo, we might risk American lives without getting much of a strategic benefit on the battlefield.”