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Based on my observations of Iranian actions in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, I do not think Iran in particularly interested in crushing ISIS or al-Qaeda. They certainly view them as an enemy, but just one of many and after the Greater and Lesser Satans of the US and Israel. Rather, they seem to to prefer fighting these Sunni enemies to some extent, but not trying to remove the threat entirely, in order to make Arab Shi'ites dependent on Iran.
The US-led coalition had an opportunity to help build an Iraq-based Shi'a alternative to Khomeinist Iran's version of Shi'a Islam, but that opportunity has been pretty much lost. Not that the Iraqi Shi'as are particularly moderate by Western standards, but they were certainly better than the Iranian version and they welcomed our liberation from Saddam.
The Iranians and their proxies clearly recognized the threat, as seen by their assassinations of so many Iraqi Ayatollahs. Meanwhile, during the reconstruction, the US-led coalition probably bent over backwards far too much to be even-handed among all the Iraqi factions, rather than favoring those Kurds, Shi'a and Sunni groups who actually favored us. And, of course, every Shi'ite Arab knew that while the US might grow tired and just pack up and leave, Iran would always be next door, so even if they would have preferred a better relationship with the US to one with Iran, the geopolitical reality favored Iran. And then the Obama Administration made it clear that the US could not be relied on.
I still find it hard to understand why Obama, Kerry and so many US officials were so insistent on making an Iran deal their signature foreign policy accomplishment, but I suppose it is possible they thought it was a quid pro quo for Iranian cooperation against ISIS. If so, I suppose Iran is using us just like they are using the Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ites and the Syrian Alawites.
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