Date: Aug 23, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Russia 'stuck' in Syria, Iran must leave: U.S. official Reuters OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Russia is "stuck" in Syria and looking for others to fund postwar reconstruction there, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said, describing this as an opportunity for Washington to press for Iranian forces to quit the country. Bolton, speaking with Reuters while on a visit to Israel, said U.S. contacts with Russia did not include any understanding over a push by Damascus' forces against the rebels in Idlib Province. But he warned against any use of chemical or biological weapons there. Under President Donald Trump, the United States has sought to disengage from Syria, where the previous administration deployed some troops and gave limited support to rebel Kurdish forces over the objections of NATO partner Turkey. Bolton sidestepped a question on whether these measures would continue, saying the U.S. was staying in Syria to carry out some specific objectives. "Our interests in Syria are to finish the destruction of the ISIS [Islamic State] territorial caliphate and deal with the continuing threat of ISIS terrorism and to worry about the presence of Iranian militias and regular forces," he said in an interview. At a news conference in Jerusalem Wednesday, Bolton voiced support for Israeli strikes in recent months on sites in Syria where he said Iranian-supplied missiles and other "threatening weapons" had been deployed. "I think that's a legitimate act of self-defence on the part of Israel," he said. Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's big-power backer, says it is committed to destroying Daesh (ISIS) insurgents but has been more circumspect about the involvement of Iran, another foreign power reinforcing Damascus. Bolton said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met Trump in Helsinki July 16, had told the United States that Moscow could not compel the Iranians to leave Syria. "But he also told us that his interest and Iran's were not exactly the same. So we're obviously going to talk to him about what role they can play," said Bolton, who meets his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in Geneva Thursday. "We're going see what we and others can agree in terms of resolving the conflict in Syria. But the one prerequisite there is the withdrawal of all Iranian forces back in Iran." Washington wields leverage in its talks with Moscow because "the Russians are stuck there at the moment," Bolton said. "And I don't think they want to be stuck there. I think their frenetic diplomatic activity in Europe indicates that they'd like to find somebody else, for example, to bear the cost of reconstructing Syria – which they may or may not succeed in doing." The Idlib region, a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as powerful jihadist forces, was hit by a wave of air strikes and shelling this month, in a possible prelude to a full-scale government offensive. Asked whether there was any U.S.-Russian understanding about such an operation, Bolton said: "No. But we're very concerned as we look at the military situation, and we want to be unmistakably clear to Assad that we expect there will be no use of chemical weapons or biological weapons if there are any additional military hostilities in Idlib." In April, the Trump administration mustered a coalition of U.S., French and British forces to attack Syrian government facilities related to the production of chemical weapons after a poison gas attack killed dozens of people in Douma district. Damascus, endorsed by Moscow, has denied using such weapons. Asked how the United States might respond should there be a chemical or biological attack on Idlib, Bolton said only: "strongly." Repeating that warning at the news conference, he added: "They [the Syrians] really ought to think about this a long time before they come to any decision." Also in his comments to Reuters, Bolton said U.S. sanctions are having a strong effect on Iran's economy and popular opinion, though regime change there is not part of Washington's policy. The Trump administration reimposed sanctions this month after withdrawing from the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, which Washington saw as inadequate for curbing Tehran's activities in neighboring Middle East countries and denying it the means to make an atomic bomb. The U.S. turnaround outraged Iran, which has taken a defiant stance, and has rattled other world powers where some businesses have been debating whether to divest from the Islamic Republic. "Let me be clear, the reimposition of the sanctions, we think, is already having a significant effect on Iran's economy and on, really, popular opinion inside Iran," Bolton told Reuters. Bolton was asked whether the United States had discussed any plans with Israel on how to capitalize on economic protests in Iran and whether the demonstrations posed any tangible threat to the Tehran government. "Just to be clear, regime change in Iran is not American policy. But what we want is massive change in the regime's behavior," Bolton said. The Iranian economy has been beset by high unemployment and inflation and a rial currency that has lost half its value since April. The reimposition of sanctions could make matters worse. Thousands of Iranians have protested against sharp price rises of some food items, a lack of jobs and state corruption. The protests over the cost of living have often turned into antigovernment rallies. "I think the effects, the economic effects certainly, are even stronger than we anticipated," Bolton said. "But Iranian activity in the region has continued to be belligerent: what they are doing in Iraq, what they are doing in Syria, what they are doing with Hezbollah in Lebanon, what they are doing in Yemen, what they have threatened to do in the Strait of Hormuz." The strait is a strategic waterway for oil shipments which Iran's Revolutionary Guards have threatened to block in response to Trump administration calls to ban all Iranian oil exports.