Syria Dress Rehearsal for Iran?

Andrew Sullivan explores the idea that finding a diplomatic solution to WMD's in Syria may be a dress rehearsal for dealing with Iran's nuclear program on The Daily Dish.

What the Iranians crave is respect and honor. We should have no illusions that Rouhani is some kind of Western liberal. We should have no illusions that he, rather than Khamenei, is calling the shots. But since the regime insists it doesn’t want and hasn’t built a nuclear weapon, and since the sanctions on the country have indeed been crippling (with inflation now accelerating fast), and since the regime still has only tenuous public support, largely outside the main urban centers, it makes sense for Rouhani to explore the chances of a deal that would end Iran’s diplomatic and economic isolation in return for adherence to non-proliferation, guaranteed by international inspectors.

That’s why, although I remain deeply skeptical of the Tehran regime, this seems to me to be well worth exploring, and for a second-term president to be prepared to risk a great deal for a legacy-making agreement.