surya kiran
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I had said this long back and kept saying over the past 2 years, US and Iran will ally, its just a matter of time. And here it comes............
We may strike Iraq jihadists, ally with foe Iran, US says
MOSUL (Iraq)/WASHINGTON: The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has torn up traditional alliances in the Middle East.
Jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week, threatening to dismember Iraq and unleash all-out sectarian warfare with no regard for national borders.
Joint action between the United States and Iran to help prop up the government of their mutual ally would be unprecedented since Iran's 1979 revolution, demonstrating the urgency of the alarm raised by the lightning insurgent advance.
US secretary of state John Kerry called the advance an "existential threat" for Iraq. Asked if the United States could cooperate with Iran against the insurgents, Kerry told Yahoo News: "I wouldn't rule out anything that would be constructive."
As for air strikes: "They're not the whole answer, but they may well be one of the options that are important," he said. "When you have people murdering, assassinating in these mass massacres, you have to stop that. And you do what you need to do if you need to try to stop it from the air or otherwise."
Britain, once Washington's only major battlefield ally in Iraq, announced it had already reached out to Iran in recent days. A US official said meetings with Iran could come this week on the sidelines of separate international nuclear talks.
Iran has longstanding ties to Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Shia politicians who came to power in Iraq after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
ISIL seeks a caliphate ruled on mediaeval Sunni Muslim precepts in Iraq and Syria, fighting against both Iraq's Maliki and Syria's Bashar al-Assad. It considers all Shias to be heretics deserving death and has boasted of massacring hundreds of Iraqi troops who surrendered to its forces last week.
Its fighters are joined by other armed Sunni groups, who oppose what they say is oppression by Maliki's Shia-led government in Baghdad.
ISIL fighters and allied Sunni tribesmen overran yet another town on Monday, Saqlawiya west of Baghdad, where they captured six Humvees and two tanks, adding to an arsenal of US-provided armor they have seized from the disintegrating army.
Obama weighing options
US President Barack Obama pulled out all American troops in 2011 and has ruled out sending them back, although he says he is weighing other military options, such as air strikes. A US aircraft carrier has sailed into the Gulf. CNN reported that it was accompanied by a navy warship carrying 550 marines.
The only US military contingent on the ground is the security staff at the US embassy. Washington said on Sunday it was evacuating some diplomatic staff and sending about 100 extra marines and other personnel to help safeguard the facilities.
The sprawling fortified compound on the banks of the Tigris is the largest and most expensive diplomatic mission ever built, a vestige of the days when 170,000 US troops fought to put down a sectarian civil war that followed the 2003 invasion.
Iraqis now face the prospect of a replay of that extreme violence, but this time without American forces to intervene.
Potential cooperation between the United States and Iran shows how dramatically the ISIL advance has redrawn the map of Middle East alliances in a matter of days.
Rouhani has presided over a gradual thaw with the West, including secret talks with Washington that led to a breakthrough preliminary deal last year to ease sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. But open cooperation against a mutual threat would be unprecedented.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that London had already made overtures to Tehran.
Read full article here : We may strike Iraq jihadists, ally with foe Iran, US says - The Times of India
A US official said talks over Iraq between US and Iranian officials could take place this week in Vienna, where both sides are attending nuclear negotiations
We may strike Iraq jihadists, ally with foe Iran, US says
MOSUL (Iraq)/WASHINGTON: The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has torn up traditional alliances in the Middle East.
Jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country in the past week, threatening to dismember Iraq and unleash all-out sectarian warfare with no regard for national borders.
Joint action between the United States and Iran to help prop up the government of their mutual ally would be unprecedented since Iran's 1979 revolution, demonstrating the urgency of the alarm raised by the lightning insurgent advance.
US secretary of state John Kerry called the advance an "existential threat" for Iraq. Asked if the United States could cooperate with Iran against the insurgents, Kerry told Yahoo News: "I wouldn't rule out anything that would be constructive."
As for air strikes: "They're not the whole answer, but they may well be one of the options that are important," he said. "When you have people murdering, assassinating in these mass massacres, you have to stop that. And you do what you need to do if you need to try to stop it from the air or otherwise."
Britain, once Washington's only major battlefield ally in Iraq, announced it had already reached out to Iran in recent days. A US official said meetings with Iran could come this week on the sidelines of separate international nuclear talks.
Iran has longstanding ties to Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Shia politicians who came to power in Iraq after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
ISIL seeks a caliphate ruled on mediaeval Sunni Muslim precepts in Iraq and Syria, fighting against both Iraq's Maliki and Syria's Bashar al-Assad. It considers all Shias to be heretics deserving death and has boasted of massacring hundreds of Iraqi troops who surrendered to its forces last week.
Its fighters are joined by other armed Sunni groups, who oppose what they say is oppression by Maliki's Shia-led government in Baghdad.
ISIL fighters and allied Sunni tribesmen overran yet another town on Monday, Saqlawiya west of Baghdad, where they captured six Humvees and two tanks, adding to an arsenal of US-provided armor they have seized from the disintegrating army.
Obama weighing options
US President Barack Obama pulled out all American troops in 2011 and has ruled out sending them back, although he says he is weighing other military options, such as air strikes. A US aircraft carrier has sailed into the Gulf. CNN reported that it was accompanied by a navy warship carrying 550 marines.
The only US military contingent on the ground is the security staff at the US embassy. Washington said on Sunday it was evacuating some diplomatic staff and sending about 100 extra marines and other personnel to help safeguard the facilities.
The sprawling fortified compound on the banks of the Tigris is the largest and most expensive diplomatic mission ever built, a vestige of the days when 170,000 US troops fought to put down a sectarian civil war that followed the 2003 invasion.
Iraqis now face the prospect of a replay of that extreme violence, but this time without American forces to intervene.
Potential cooperation between the United States and Iran shows how dramatically the ISIL advance has redrawn the map of Middle East alliances in a matter of days.
Rouhani has presided over a gradual thaw with the West, including secret talks with Washington that led to a breakthrough preliminary deal last year to ease sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. But open cooperation against a mutual threat would be unprecedented.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that London had already made overtures to Tehran.
Read full article here : We may strike Iraq jihadists, ally with foe Iran, US says - The Times of India
A US official said talks over Iraq between US and Iranian officials could take place this week in Vienna, where both sides are attending nuclear negotiations
