Islamic State threat pushes United States and Iran to discuss nuclear issue
New York (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The enlargement of
the coalition against the Islamic
State (IS) and the Iranian
nuclear negotiations are becoming entangles these days in New York, in talks between the United States, Iran and Russia,
on the sidelines of the meetings of the Security
Council and UN General Assembly.
Yesterday, Sunday, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, held
a meeting with the Iranian foreign
minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, although there
are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A senior State Department
official said that the two
discussed the nuclear negotiations
and "even the
threat" of IS. He added
that Iran - usually
seen by the United States as the super-enemy -
has a role to play while the United States seek to build a coalition to fight the jihadists.
The United States and Iran, therefore, have discussed
the threat of the Islamic State,
even though they formally continue to
deny it. Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, had claimed that his government had rejected an American proposal to join the coalition.
Washington, for its part, has always
publicly denied any possibility of
military cooperation with Tehran,
seen as a sponsor of global terrorism
and ally of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
As for the nuclear talks, despite more sanctions recently decided by Washington, the US official said
that "they discussed the status of negotiations between the 5 +1 (the five members
of the Security Council, namely
the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, plus
Germany)". "They both
spoke of the progress and of work that still needs
to be done."
Kerry also spoke yesterday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov regarding the coalition against
the IS. During a phone
conversation, according to a US official, they discussed "how to extend the
work begun on the role Russia
can play in the coalition". The official declined to give further details, saying that "we've
been pretty clear about the menu of ways to contribute ... so I think we're
looking to hear from the Russians what their intentions are".
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17/10/2008
