Eli Lake, Columnist

What Kerry Should Do to Divide Iran and Russia

Iran's constitution forbids foreign forces on its soil. Putin's air force is there. That's an opening for tough diplomacy.

August 17, 2016 at 10:37 AM EDT

By Eli Lake

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Explosive.
Photographer: Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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For the last year, Secretary of State John Kerry has worked and worked to get Russia to help end Syria's civil war. He has cajoled. He has sniped. He has spent countless hours in meetings and on the phone with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. And he pretty much has nothing to show for it.

This point was driven home Tuesday when Russia announced it had started bombing missions from a base inside Iran.

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