Any chance of an end to the carnage in Syria and Iraq, and a return to some level of stability, looks contingent on an international deal on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which unlocks US rapprochement with Tehran. That, in turn, would have to lead to a cessation of the proxy war across the Middle East, if not detente, between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. These rivals for regional hegemony would have to conclude that their poisonously sectarian tactics had rebounded — not least in the eruption of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Isis, a deadly threat to them both.
任何結束髮生在敘利亞和伊拉克的殺戮並恢復某種程度穩定的機會，都取決於一項針對伊朗核計劃的國際協議，這份協議將開啓美國與伊朗恢復邦交的進程。這反過來必然會爲什葉派的伊朗和遜尼派的沙烏地阿拉伯在整個中東地區打的這場代理戰爭畫上句號（如果不能使這兩個國家和解的話）。這些爭奪地區霸權的競爭對手需要認清，他們危害極大的教派主義策略已經產生反作用——尤其表現爲「伊拉克與黎凡特伊斯蘭國」（Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant，簡稱ISIS）的興起，這個組織對伊朗和沙烏地都是致命威脅。