Charlie Rose Talks to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

Iran’s president discusses the airstrikes on Syria, the sanctions against his nation, and the use of religion in terrorist recruitment

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By Charlie Peete Rose

September 25, 2014 at 8:56 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the September 29, 2014 issue of businessweek.

There are reports that the U.S. informed Iran in advance of the airstrikes on Syria. Is it true?
On the sidelines of the nuclear talks, in a general fashion, this topic was touched upon. And they had a general conversation about it, about the fact that the U.S. said they would intend to extend the range of the air bombardments in Iraq. Nothing precise, nothing that came a day or a few hours prior to the bombardment of Syria.

Do you think the airstrikes will have the intended effect?
Does the United States think that with a few bombardments that we’ll be able to destroy terrorism? And make them suffer damages? If that’s the general thought, then it’s incredibly simple thinking. This terrorism has been taking the lives of Syrians for the last three years. How is it that now the U.S. thinks of combatting them?