On November 6, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that U. S. President Barack Obama had secretly written a letter to Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei asking and encouraging him to join America’s alleged fight against the Islamic State.
The Wall Street Journal’s report was based on information provided by ‘unnamed sources’ who indicate that the letter was sent in Mid-October and that it ‘described a shared interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria … [and] appeared aimed both at buttressing the campaign against Islamic State and nudging Iran’s religious leader closer to a nuclear deal.’
In addition, the reporting journalists also state that the letter stressed ‘that any cooperation on Islamic State was largely contingent on Iran reaching a comprehensive agreement with global powers on the future of Tehran’s nuclear program’ ahead of the meeting scheduled to take place on November 24, regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Although the White House is not officially confirming the letter’s authenticity, the fact is that Barack Obama and the Ayatollah have had communication on the subject of the Islamic State before.
However, this previous communication, also taking the form of a ‘secret letter not acknowledged by the Foreign Ministry,’ was initiated by the government of Iran suggesting that the United States and Iran work together in order to defeat the Islamic State. This suggestion was promptly rejected by the U. S. State Department
Indeed, it was reported by the BBC in September, 2014, that the Ayatollah Khamenei had ‘authorized his top commander to co-ordinate military operations with the US, Iraqi and Kurdish forces.’
While the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the veracity of the reports about the letter at the time, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani subsequently stated that Iran was open to the idea of working with the United States to combat extremism. As The Daily Beast wrote in September, 2014,
This post was published at The Daily Sheeple on November 12th, 2014.
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