In a rare outreach to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Barack Obama has written a letter about the fight against Islamic State militants, according to diplomatic sources.
Mr. Obama’s letter to Mr. Khamenei comes against the backdrop of the looming November 24 deadline in nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, as well as five other world powers.
The Wall Street Journal , which first reported that Mr. Obama had sent the letter, said it described a shared interest between the U.S. and Iran in fighting Islamic State militants and stressed that any cooperation on that would be largely contingent on Iran agreeing to the nuclear deal.
“The United States will not cooperate militarily with Iran in that effort,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We won’t share intelligence with them.”
Mr. Obama authorised a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Iraq in August and expanded the mission the following month to neighbouring Syria. Iran is not part of the U.S. coalition, but it has also been fighting the Islamic State group on the ground.
