World press on role of Iran and Russia in Syrian crisis (August 16, 2012)

"Why Iran, more than Russia, may obstruct US goals in Syria" was the headline of an article published yesterday by the Christian Science Monitor. 

"Russia has been the main obstacle on the international stage to US efforts to end Syria's violence, but on the ground Iran appears to be the main outside force propping up the Assad regime," the author of the article, Howard LaFranchi, believes.

"The United States is increasingly realizing that as it seeks to end Syria’s violence and drive President Bashar al-Assad from power, it may not be so much Russia that it has to confront, but Iran," the article reads.

"Of the two it has been Russia on the international stage that has thwarted US and Western efforts to halt 18 months of bloodshed in Syria. But on the ground it is Iran that appears to be more active in efforts to prop up what some regional experts and defectors from Mr. Assad’s side say is a crumbling regime."