In July, the “international community” grew mildly suspicious when Iranian general Qassem Soleimani flew to Moscow for a weekend, as Hot Air’s Allahpundit noted. Whatever did it mean? The United States was wrapping up marathon talks to secure a nuclear future for Iran. Vladimir Putin was, well, being Putin. The purpose for the July meeting became clear last week, as Russia sent bombs raining down from the sky in Syria. Reuters reports, “At a meeting in Moscow in July, a top Iranian general unfurled a map of Syria to explain to his Russian hosts how a series of defeats for President Bashar al-Assad could be turned into victory — with Russia’s help.” Soleimani is no rank-and-file commander in the Iranian army. He commands the Quds Force, answers only to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is sanctioned from international travel because he is branded as a terrorist. In other words, the ramp up of the Syrian Civil War is not because of Putin’s violent statesmanship alone. It is also Iran’s strategy to cut out the United States from the Middle East. Why didn’t the Obama administration see this? Doctored intelligence only goes so far. Barack Obama suffers from a distorted view of how the world works. But you can trust him to know if Iran is cheating on the nuclear deal.