Iran does not want a Sunni state in the middle of Iraq and Syria, which is Iran’s Shiite ally. Iran is not as reticent as Turkey and Saudi Arabia about getting its hands dirty. Its air force has bombed Islamic State positions, it has trained and armed Shiite Iraqi militias, and sent its own troops to fight. Those Iraqi militias, fighting for their religion, have been far more effective than US-trained Iraqi army units, fighting for their country. However, the US worries that the militias may be violating someone’s human rights, proving that after numerous losing hands it still doesn’t know how the game is played. It’s an understatement to say the Islamic State does not protect human rights. The US is wary of Iran, although it welcomes their current involvement—as long as they don’t violate anyone’s human rights and don’t fight for sectarian reasons, which they most assuredly are. Further Iranian involvement would make obvious to all the absurdity of the US position: we are fighting two bitter enemies’ wars for them, placing ourselves on both sides of the long-running Sunni-Shiite sectarian war.

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