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.
任何结束发生在叙利亚和伊拉克的杀戮并恢复某种程度稳定的机会，都取决于一项针对伊朗核计划的国际协议，这份协议将开启美国与伊朗恢复邦交的进程。这反过来必然会为什叶派的伊朗和逊尼派的沙特阿拉伯在整个中东地区打的这场代理战争画上句号（如果不能使这两个国家和解的话）。这些争夺地区霸权的竞争对手需要认清，他们危害极大的教派主义策略已经产生反作用——尤其表现为“伊拉克与黎凡特伊斯兰国”（Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant，简称ISIS）的兴起，这个组织对伊朗和沙特都是致命威胁。