At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Trump said of the Syria withdrawal: “Iran is no longer the same country. Iran is pulling people out of Syria. They can do what they want there, frankly, but they’re pulling people out. They’re pulling people out of Yemen. Iran wants to survive now.”

Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD): “I strongly urge the President to issue a statement making clear that Iran must not be allowed to gain a permanent foothold in Syria from which it can threaten rocket attacks on Israel and sow instability in Jordan.”

Dov Zakheim tells us: “I think it’s a huge mistake. The Iranian government has faced opposition for a long, long time. They’re not about to fall tomorrow. In the meantime, if they wind up having a free road, essentially, from Iran to the Israeli border, they will embolden Hezbollah beyond where they already are, which is bad enough, and they will create a big problem for Israel. The president, he’s heard the concerns from Netanyahu, he’s heard from a lot of people, and he’s trying to backtrack at the same time, as he doesn’t want to admit that he made a major, major error.”

“But this is the thing about the President. In the morning it’s one thing, in the afternoon it’s something else, and in the evening it’ll be a third thing. He’s making it very difficult for his senior officials. There’s nothing new there, and it comes as no surprise.”