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 WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration makes a case for punitive airstrikes on the Syrian government, its strongest card in the view of some supporters of a military response may be the need to send a message to another country: Iran. If the United States does not enforce its self-imposed “red line” on Syria’s use of chemical weapons, this thinking goes, Iran will smell weakness and press ahead more boldly in its quest for nuclear weapons. 
 
 But that message may be clashing with a simultaneous effort by American officials to explore dialogue with Iran’s moderate new president, Hassan Rouhani, in the latest expression of Washington’s long struggle to balance toughness with diplomacy in its relations with a longtime adversary. 
 
 Two recent diplomatic ventures have raised speculation about a possible back channel between Washington and Tehran. Last week, Jeffrey Feltman, a high State Department official in President Obama’s first term who is now a senior envoy at the United Nations, visited Iran to meet with the new foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and discussed possible reactions to an American airstrike in Syria. 
 
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 At the same time, the sultan of Oman, who has often served as an intermediary between the United States and Iran, was in Tehran meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 
 
 Neither Mr. Feltman nor Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman has said anything about carrying messages between the two governments. Still, those overtures, along with some surprisingly mild noises from Iranian leaders, have raised hopes that Washington may be able to thread the needle — to strike Syria without compromising efforts toward an Iranian-American détente before meetings at the United Nations General Assembly this month. 
 
 Those hopes may well be premature: even if Mr. Rouhani and his foreign minister are eager for a deal ending the dispute over the future of Iran’s nuclear program, it is far from clear that they would be able to deliver one. Negotiations have been stalled since last year, and final authority on foreign policy rests with Ayatollah Khamenei. The Iranian president’s hand, whatever his politics, is weakened further during national security crises, analysts say, and hard-liners are likely to be empowered. 
 
 Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Rouhani — who has declared his goal of resolving tensions with the West and bringing “more transparency” to nuclear talks — is vulnerable to domestic conservatives, who still blame him for having signed an agreement in 2003 opening Iran to United Nations inspectors. 
 
 “I am convinced that Rouhani and Zarif want to overcome the hostility between the U.S. and Iran, but a military strike on Syria could be a spoiler,” said Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator for Iran who is now a visiting scholar at Princeton University. 
 
 Even as Secretary of State John Kerry worked to build support for a strike, his Iranian counterpart, Mr. Zarif, known as a moderate who hopes for dialogue, seemed to be working to avert one, declaring in an interview on Sunday that Iran warned the United States last year about chemical weapons getting into the hands of Syrian rebels. On Monday, he even tried to suggest that Mr. Obama was closer to his way of thinking, saying the American president was being pushed toward war by hard-liners in his own government. 
 
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 Nuclear weapons aside, the debate over chemical weapons has raised questions about the strength of Iran’s commitment to the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Iran suffered terrible losses to chemical weapon strikes during its decade-long war with Iraq in the 1980s, and the issue is a delicate one for many Iranians. Mr. Rouhani aroused some controversy last week by strongly condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria on his English-language Twitter feed, without saying who used them. 
 
 Mr. Zarif made similar comments on his Facebook page, and others went further, including a former Iranian diplomat who suggested that Iran should not put all its eggs in one basket. A former president of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was quoted in Iranian state media accusing Mr. Assad of using chemical weapons on his own people, though the government later disavowed those comments. 
 
 But Syria remains an essential ally for Iran, and a crucial link with Hezbollah, the Shiite movement based in Lebanon. There is no sign that Iran’s leaders are backing off; an Iranian delegation visited Mr. Assad in Damascus on Sunday to reaffirm its country’s commitment. But with the Iranian economy in tatters, the military support to Syria is costly. 
 
 “The question is, if things go badly for Assad on the battlefield, at what point would Iran let the rope go?” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, the director of the Middle East studies program at Syracuse University. 
 
 If more evidence emerged that Mr. Assad’s military had used chemical weapons, that would raise the political cost of continuing to support him, Mr. Boroujerdi added. 
 
 One thing is clear: the statements by Iran’s leaders have shifted from earlier this year, when high-ranking Iranian officials said a foreign attack on Syria would be treated as an attack on Iran itself. There may even be some relief at the prospect of more direct American involvement in the Syrian conflict, which has occasionally been cast as “Iran’s Vietnam,” some analysts say. 
 
 “The reality is that Obama’s military action will make the Syrian tragedy his and not Iran’s,” wrote Farideh Farhi, an Iran scholar at the University of Hawaii, in an analysis published online at Lobelog.com. “And in Iran’s postelection environment, in which the country has moved toward national reconciliation — both among the elite and between the government and the population — nothing suits the Islamic Republic better than divesting itself from this issue quietly.” 
 
 For all their mutual antipathy, the United States and Iran may ultimately find common ground in Syria. 
 
 “The United States and Iran are fighting a zero-sum proxy war in Syria at the moment,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “If and when Assad falls, the two sides will have a mutual adversary in radical Sunni jihadists.” ||||| DAMASCUS, Syria—The Assad regime prepared for a U.S. attack on the capital despite a likely delay in any military action, urging civilian evacuations, moving soldiers into vacant apartments and issuing new threats of retaliation. 
 
 A senior Syrian official on Monday said that both the Syrian army and its ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group, would strike back in the event of a U.S.-led offensive by first hitting American warships now in the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 A group of Syrian-government supporters behind a campaign called "Over Our Dead Bodies" are camping out near military installations that might be U.S. targets. Sam Dagher reports from Damascus via #WorldStream. 
 
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 Referring to Hezbollah as the resistance, Khaled Abboud, a parliament member and confidant of President Bashar al-Assad, told The Wall Street Journal: "The resistance and the armed forces are now one body. In my assessment, Hezbollah will side with Syria in certain operations targeting warships in the Mediterranean." 
 
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 The Assad government's preparations continued despite President Barack Obama's move last week to seek congressional authorization to attack after Washington and opposition groups alleged that Damascus killed more than 1,400 people last month in a chemical-arms attack. 
 
 The Syrian government warned residents to move away from military bases outside Damascus, as troops began to position themselves for what appeared to be the first time in residential neighborhoods in the city that are home to military and security installations and government offices. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A rebel fighter and a child crossadamaged bridge in the town of Deir Ezzor on Monday. The regime says it will retaliate for any foreign attacks. 
 
 Residents of the town of Mouadhamiyat al-Qalamoun, north of Damascus, said the military asked them to evacuate on Sunday the vicinity of a major base in the area likely to be targeted by any U.S. strikes. 
 
 And in the Damascus neighborhoods of Kfar Sousseh, Malki and Mezze, the military was moving into vacant apartments, say residents, including a building supervisor who said the army on Sunday told him to open empty apartments in his property. Many of the apartments' owners had evacuated the city over the course of the more than two-year-old conflict. 
 
 Several security agencies and key government offices, including the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are located in Kfar Sousseh, which is also a popular residential area with high-rise structures. 
 
 The military also beefed up checkpoints in the Kfar Sousseh area. Armored vehicles and trucks equipped with antiaircraft guns stood at intersections and inside alleyways. 
 
 The regime warned Syrians to beware of rumors which it said were part of possible psychological warfare that could be waged by the U.S. and its allies. This included "rumors about the escape of important people from the country" and "videos of people impersonating Syrian officials," read full-page advertisements in state newspapers. 
 
 Meanwhile a group of staunch regime supporters launched a campaign titled "over our dead bodies," which members said involves camping out in tents in areas likely to be targeted by U.S. military strikes. 
 
 On Monday, those Assad loyalists began erecting tents on Mount Qassioun, which overlooks Damascus and is used by the regime to pound rebel areas with heavy artillery and rocket launchers. 
 
 A few dozen people brandished Syrian flags and placards with messages including "Hands off Syria" and "Iraq lies not again" in front of local and international television cameras. 
 
 "We are not scared and we promise them that we will retaliate," said 20-year-old university student Ali Habib. "We will abandon our universities and head to war and confrontation." 
 
 The organizer, Ogarit Dandash, a Lebanese reporter with the pro-Syrian regime channel Al-Mayadeen, said hundreds of people from across Syria and neighboring Lebanon were joining the campaign and that it would be expanded in coming days to other locations that they believed were likely to be targeted by U.S. strikes. 
 
 Statements from everyone from White House spokespeople to John Kerry all seemed to be building towards an aggressive response to Syria without approval from Congress or the UN. But on Saturday plans took a dramatic shift. 
 
 "I have been in Syria for two years covering the dirty war and saw lots of soldiers killed in a very cruel way; he must think about what he's doing in the Middle East," said Ms. Dandash referring to Mr. Obama. 
 
 The U.S., meanwhile, is standing by in the Mediterranean with five destroyers armed with cruise missiles and an amphibious ship with several hundred Marines on board in preparation for possible strikes on Syria in response to the alleged gas attacks. 
 
 Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, hasn't publicly commented on the U.S. allegations. Hezbollah, which like Mr. Assad's regime is backed by Iran, is classified by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. 
 
 Hezbollah has played an instrumental role this year in helping Mr. Assad recapture from rebels territories in central Syria most notably around the capital Damascus and the province of Homs to the north. Experts say the Lebanese group and Syria have long-range missiles. 
 
 The Syrian lawmaker, Mr. Abboud, like most Syrian officials accuses rebels of carrying out last month's chemical-weapons attack. He said Mr. Obama's decision on Saturday to seek congressional approval before striking Syria was proof that "he reached a dead end." 
 
 In extracts of an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro released Monday, Mr. Assad also warned of the repercussions of a U.S. attack on Syria but was less specific. 
 
 "The Middle East is a powder keg and the fire is approaching," he said. "Everybody will lose control of the situation when the powder keg will explode. Chaos and extremism will spread. The risk of a regional war exists," he told Le Figaro. 
 
 —Inti Landauro and Nour Malas contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared September 3, 2013, on page A6 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Assad Readies for U.S. Strike Despite Delay. ||||| Russian president to be urged at G20 summit to come closer to accepting that Bashar al-Assad has to stand aside 
 
 Vladimir Putin is to be confronted at the G20 summit of world leaders in St Petersburg this week with an array of western intelligence including damning new French evidence directly linking Syrian government forces with a massive and co-ordinated chemical attack on 21 August that led to hundreds of civilian deaths. 
 
 The Russian president will also be urged to show a new diplomatic flexibility and come closer to accepting that the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, has to stand aside. 
 
 A nine-page declassified French intelligence report was released on Monday which claimed to show Assad forces had launched an attack on Damascus suburbs held by opposition units using a combination of conventional weapons and "the massive use of chemical weapons". 
 
 The report follows similar documents from British and American intelligence. 
 
 The Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen also insisted that "personally I am convinced, not only that a chemical attack has taken place … but I am also convinced that the Syrian regime is responsible." 
 
 The French intelligence includes satellite imagery showing the attacks coming from government-controlled areas to the east and west of Damascus and targeting rebel-held zones. The report said Assad's forces had since bombed the areas to wipe out evidence. 
 
 "Unlike previous attacks that used small amounts of chemicals and were aimed at terrorising people, this attack was tactical and aimed at regaining territory," the report said. 
 
 Nearly 47 amateur video clips reportedly filmed on the morning of the attack and showing the impact on civilians had been authenticated by French military doctors, according to the intelligence. French evidence gave details of other suspected chemical attacks, in the towns of Saraqib and Jobar in April, which now appeared to have killed about 280 people, the report said. 
 
 The fresh information will also help Barack Obama in his uphill efforts to persuade Congress next week to back a punitive military strike against Assad. 
 
 Assad, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, again denied the use of chemical weapons. "Whoever makes accusations must provide proof," he said. "We have challenged the US and France to put forward a single piece of proof. Mr Obama and Mr Hollande have been incapable of doing so. The Middle East is a powder-keg, and today the spark is getting closer." 
 
 The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, also rejected the western intelligence as absolutely unconvincing, saying that there was "nothing concrete, no geographical co-ordinates or details … and no proof the test was done by professionals". 
 
 He urged the west to lift the veil of secrecy over its allegations. 
 
 British sources said Putin, host of the G20, will face a concerted challenge at the summit on Thursday and Friday both to accept the intelligence, and propose a fresh diplomatic solution to the crisis by easing his support for the Assad regime. 
 
 Some senior Tories continued to put pressure on Downing Street to say it might be willing to hold a second Commons vote on whether Britain would in some circumstances participate in an attack on Syria in retaliation for the chemical attack. 
 
 Cameron unexpectedly lost the vote last week, but the former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell led calls for Britain to keep an open mind. "I believe taking legal and proportional action will be better than doing nothing – I think it will be more likely to bring this catastrophe to a close," he said. 
 
 "That's why I think it's very important in this rapidly moving situation that we don't rule anything out and it may be, for example, that after lengthy and careful consideration, Congress affirms its support for the President's plans and in the light of that our Parliament may well want to consider this matter further" 
 
 Advocates of a second vote were briefly given succour when the defence secretary, Philip Hammond, said there might be a second vote if there were a very significant change in circumstances. 
 
 But Labour sources poured cold water on a second vote, saying the government had ruled out military action. Apparently raising the bar on military action higher than last week, Labour sources said a second vote could only be countenanced if there was evidence that al-Qaida had got hold of significant stocks of chemical weapons, or there was a direct threat to national security. 
 
 The Labour motion last week was less specific about the trigger for action, and it was not clear if all shadow cabinet members were aware of this hardened stance. 
 
 Labour instead tried to refocus on diplomacy, with the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, telling the Guardian: "An objective for the G20 summit in St Petersburg should be to establish a Syria contact group, like that which helped end the civil war in Lebanon. Unlike the Friends of Syria group, which was established as a forum for supporting the Syrian opposition, a Syria contact group could bring together those countries that are currently backing opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, of course including Russia, but also key sponsors within the region such as Iran and Saudi Arabia." 
 
 The contact group would work to bring the participants in the two-year civil war to talks in Geneva. Washington, with British backing, has opposed Iranian involvement in talks. 
 
 Writing in the Guardian, the senior Liberal Democrat peer Lady Williams has also called for Iran to be involved in the construction of a Syrian political settlement. She writes that the condemnation of the use of chemical weapons by the newly elected Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, "deserves a constructive response. It is time to end the isolation of Iran." 
 
 Plans to stage a second round of peace talks on Syria in Geneva have been stalled since March, partly over the US veto on Iranian attendance, and partly due to disputes in the Syrian rebel forces over the composition of its delegation, and the presence of forces loyal to Assad. Cameron will not have been emboldened by the publication of three separate polls on Monday showing strong opposition to British involvement in military action. A BBC/ICM poll found 71% supporting the Commons decision to stop British involvement in military action with 67% saying that "the special relationship is not relevant to the modern age". ||||| Thousands of Syrians flood across the border into Iraq recently in search of shelter. © UNHCR/G.Gubaeva 
 
 GENEVA, September 3 (UNHCR) - The number of Syrians forced to seek shelter abroad since civil war began in March 2011 passed the 2 million mark on Tuesday with no sign of the outflow ending soon. 
 
 "The war is now well into its third year and Syria is haemorrhaging women, children and men who cross borders often with little more than the clothes on their backs," the UN refugee agency said in a statement released to mark the milestone. 
 
 "This trend is nothing less than alarming, representing a jump of almost 1.8 million people in 12 months," UNHCR said. One year ago today, the number of Syrians registered as refugees or awaiting registration stood at about 230,670 people. 
 
 UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said Syria had become "a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history." He added that "the only solace is the humanity shown by the neighbouring countries in welcoming and saving the lives of so many refugees." 
 
 More than 97 per cent of Syria's refugees are hosted by countries in the immediate surrounding region, placing an overwhelming burden on their infrastructures, economies and societies. They urgently need massive international support to help deal with the crisis. 
 
 UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, expressed her dismay at the level of death, damage and danger that has forced so many Syrians to run for their lives. 
 
 "The world risks being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian disaster. The tide of human suffering unleashed by the conflict has catastrophic implications. If the situation continues to deteriorate at this rate, the number of refugees will only grow, and some neighbouring countries could be brought to the point of collapse," she said. 
 
 Jolie added that the world was "tragically disunited" on how to end the Syria conflict. "But there should be no disagreement over the need to alleviate human suffering, and no doubt of the world's responsibility to do more. We have to support the millions of innocent people ripped from their homes, and increase the ability of neighbouring countries to cope with the influx." 
 
 ... a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres 
 
 With an average of almost 5,000 Syrians fleeing into neighbouring countries every day, the need to significantly increase humanitarian aid and development support to host communities has reached a critical stage. 
 
 In view of the pressure the refugee exodus is placing on surrounding countries, including the worsening economic impact, ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey will meet with UNHCR in Geneva on Wednesday in a bid to accelerate international support. 
 
 The 2 million figure represents Syrians who have registered as refugees or who are pending registration. As of the end August this comprised 110,000 in Egypt, 168,000 in Iraq, 515,000 in Jordan, 716,000 in Lebanon and 460,000 in Turkey. 
 
 Some 52 per cent of this population are children aged 17 years or below. UNHCR announced only days ago that the number of Syrian child refugees had exceeded 1 million. 
 
 A further 4.25 million people are displaced inside Syria, according to data from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Taken together, these numbers - amounting to more than 6 million people - mean that more Syrians are now forcibly displaced than people from any other country. 
 
 UNHCR is active in Syria and is leading the humanitarian response to the refugee crisis in each of the surrounding countries. Humanitarian agencies are worryingly under-supported, with receipt of only 47 per cent of funds required to meet basic refugee needs. ||||| JERUSALEM/MOSCOW Israel tested a U.S.-backed missile system in the Mediterranean on Tuesday but did not announce the launch in advance, prompting a disclosure by Russia that kept the world on edge as the United States weighed an attack on Syria. 
 
 The morning launch was first reported by Moscow media that quoted Russian defense officials as saying two ballistic "objects" had been fired eastward from the center of the sea - roughly in the direction of Syria. 
 
 The news ruffled financial markets until Israel's Defence Ministry said that it, along with a Pentagon team, had carried out a test-launch of a Sparrow missile. The Sparrow, which simulates the long-range missiles of Syria and Iran, is used for target practice by Israel's U.S.-backed ballistic shield Arrow. 
 
 "Israel routinely fires missiles or drones off its shores to test its own ballistic defense capabilities," a U.S. official said in Washington. 
 
 Western naval forces have been gathering in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea since President Bashar al-Assad was accused of carrying out an August 21 gas attack in his more than two-year-old conflict with rebels trying to topple him. 
 
 Damascus denies responsibility for the incident. U.S. President Barack Obama had been widely expected to order reprisal strikes on Syria last week but put them off to seek support from Washington lawmakers first. 
 
 With U.S. action on Syria delayed as Obama confers with Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to play up the Jewish state's ability to deal with its foes alone. On Tuesday, the rightist premier spoke of anti-missile systems as a national "wall of iron". 
 
 "These things give us the power to protect ourselves, and anyone who considers harming us would do best not to," he said in a speech. 
 
 Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon shrugged off a question from reporters on whether the launch might have been ill-timed. He said Israel had to work to maintain its military edge and "this necessitates field trials and, accordingly, a successful trial was conducted to test our systems. And we will continue to develop and to research and to equip the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) with the best systems in the world." 
 
 Arrow designer Uzi Rabin said tests of the anti-missile system are planned "long, long in advance" and generally go unnoticed. "What apparently made the difference today is the high state of tension over Syria and Russia's unusual vigilance," he told Reuters. 
 
 A Russian Defence Ministry spokesman quoted by the Interfax news agency said the launch was picked up by an early warning radar station at Armavir, near the Black Sea, which is designed to detect missiles from Europe and Iran. 
 
 RIA, another Russian news agency, later quoted a source in Syria's "state structures" as saying the objects had fallen harmlessly into the sea. 
 
 The Russian Defence Ministry declined comment to Reuters. 
 
 Moscow is Assad's big-power ally and has mobilized its own navy in the face of U.S. military preparations to punish the Syrian government for its alleged killing of more than 1,400 people in the chemical strike in an embattled Damascus suburb. 
 
 OUTSIDE INTERVENTION 
 
 Russia opposes any outside military intervention in Syria's civil war and says it suspects the gassings were staged by rebels seeking foreign involvement in the conflict. 
 
 Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed President Vladimir Putin of the launch but it was not immediately clear how he reacted. 
 
 Brent crude oil extended gains to rise by more than $1 per barrel and Dubai's share index fell after Russia said it detected the launches. 
 
 Five U.S. destroyers and an amphibious ship are in the Mediterranean, poised for possible strikes against Syria with cruise missiles - which are not ballistic. U.S. officials said the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and four other ships in its strike group moved into the Red Sea on Monday. 
 
 "The pressure being applied by the United States causes particular concern," Itar-Tass quoted Russian Defence Ministry official Oleg Dogayev as saying. He said "the dispatch of ships armed with cruise missiles toward Syria's shores has a negative effect on the situation in the region". 
 
 The United States sees its underwriting of the Arrow as a means of reassuring Israel and, by extension, of reducing the chance that its ally might launch unilateral attacks on Syria or Iran that could destabilize the wider region. 
 
 Netanyahu has reluctantly supported U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program. He has been circumspect about the Western showdown with Syria, worrying that should Assad fall to Islamist-led rebels, they could prove more hostile to the Jewish state. 
 
 (Writing by Steve Gutterman and Dan Williams, Editing by Timothy Heritage/Mark Heinrich)
– If you spent your Labor Day weekend in a news-free zone, here's the biggest detail you missed: President Obama on Saturday announced he would seek congressional approval before striking Syria, which means nothing will happen until Congress returns Monday. Except, of course, there's a flurry of activity already under way. On that front: Syria is getting ready: Even in the face of the delay, the Assad regime is prepping for an attack, telling Damascus residents to flee areas near military bases the US may have in its crosshairs. In what appears to be a first, it's also reportedly moving soldiers into abandoned apartments in the capital's residential neighborhoods, one of which is now studded with antiaircraft gun-topped trucks. A Syrian official yesterday told the Wall Street Journal that both Syria and Hezbollah are prepared to retaliate, and would first target the five US destroyers and amphibious ship in the Mediterranean. Missiles in the Mediterranean: Things weren't exactly quiet in the Mediterranean this morning, with Reuters reporting that Russia "raised the alarm" after its radar picked up the launch of two ballistic "objects" there. But Syria state sources quickly confirmed it was not hit, and Israel confirmed that it had tested a missile around that time in a joint test with the US. (Reuters explains the missile was "used as a target in a US-funded anti-missile system.") Reuters notes the cruise missiles aboard the US ships in the area are not ballistic. Senate committee gets things rolling: ABC News reports that John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey will testify in support of military force before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. Gloomy milestone: The number of Syrian refugees since March 2011 passed the 2 million mark today, reports the UN. The UN reported yesterday that a total of one in three Syrians—or 7 million—have been displaced. Putin to be confronted: The G20 host may find himself a bit mistreated by his guests this week. The Guardian reports by way of British sources that Putin "will face a concerted challenge" on Thursday and Friday as attendees push him to support the chemical-attack evidence (which Russia previously deemed "absolutely unconvincing") and the notion that Assad needs to step aside. Where Iran fits in: The New York Times today takes a look at the catch-22 the Obama administration finds itself in vis a vis Iran. On the one hand, Iran may be the "strongest card" it can play in seeking support for airstrikes on Syria (ie, if we're soft on Syria, an emboldened Iran will push ahead on nukes). But that approach is complicated by attempts to "explore dialogue" with moderate new president Hassan Rouhani.