Our Secret Alliance With Iran

For U.S. agencies focused on Iran, a big week looms. Events of the past few days mean that the Obama administration now has no alternative to acting very closely with Iran, and must decide the conditions for dealing with our newest and most significant military ally. Much more difficult will be the chore of keeping that alliance secret from much of the world, including U.S. lawmakers.
 
The near-collapse of the Iraqi military leaves the Americans precious few alternatives. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) does not presently have the capacity to occupy Baghdad, unless an attack is accompanied by mass risings of the city’s Sunni areas. In coming months, though, it presumably will strike more widely, strangling what remains of the Iraqi state, and threatening Kurdish areas. We would have to imagine an ISIS state covering much of Iraq and (at least) Eastern Syria, with huge oil wealth, and inheriting most of the military supplies that the U.S. left in the region.