Iran is the last obstacle to a new Middle East, US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on Monday, calling for Syria’s reintegration and Lebanon’s break from Tehran-backed Hezbollah to secure what he called “a generation of cooperation.”
“All that stands in the way of progress is a hostile and treacherous Iranian IRGC leadership and its proxies,” Barrack said on X, describing Tehran and its network of militias as the chief obstacle to regional stability.
In a detailed social media statement titled “Syria and Lebanon Are the Next Pieces for Levant Peace,” Barrack said the momentum from the Gaza ceasefire and the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit has created a historic opportunity to rebuild the region—if Iran’s influence can be contained.
Barrack said “the rest of the region is accelerating towards expulsion of Iran’s terrorist proxies,” and argued that the Middle East’s political and economic realignment is already underway.
Turning to Lebanon, Barrack pressed Beirut to distance itself from Iran-backed Hezbollah and embrace US and French-sponsored disarmament efforts.
Hezbollah’s continued dominance, he warned, has left Lebanon “an army without authority and a government without control,” deterring investment and threatening new conflict with Israel.
He described President Donald Trump’s twenty-point peace plan as a blueprint for reconstruction, reconciliation, and economic integration that could transform “a century of conflict into a generation of cooperation.”
Barrack concluded that the Middle East now faces a defining choice: to isolate Iran and embrace reconciliation, or risk losing a rare moment of regional unity and peace.
“Iran stands terminally weakened – politically, economically, and morally,” he added, predicting that Saudi Arabia’s expected entry into the Abraham Accords would accelerate a shift “drawn not by pressure but by prosperity.”
The Abraham Accords, brokered in 2020 by President Donald Trump and his senior adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner, normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.
Current efforts to expand that framework could gain momentum following the Gaza ceasefire.
