US-led coalition seeks to exclude Iran from fight against Islamic State
CAIRO - Two countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have long borders with Iraq, seat of a growing battle against Islamic State extremists. Despite the huge stakes for both border countries, only Saudi Arabia is now welcome as part of a U.S.-driven coalition of nations girding for a long fight.
The question of Iran's participation has become a distraction for the Obama administration as it seeks to build a diverse international support base for a military and diplomatic campaign against extremists who have laid claim to territory in Iraq and Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry says Iran should not attend a conference about the extremist threat that will be held Monday in Paris, although invitations are up to France.
"It would not be appropriate given the many other issues . . . with respect to their engagement in Syria and elsewhere," Kerry said in statements Friday. He cited Iran's military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and alleged Iranian support for terrorist groups elsewhere. The United States and some Arab states are backing rebels trying to unseat Assad.
But the United States is trying to exclude Iran from the group for a simpler reason: If Shiite power broker Iran were present, Sunni power broker Saudi Arabia would bolt. So would other Sunni states that provide crucial regional backing for what might otherwise smack of another unilateral American military intervention in the Middle East.
Inviting Iran to participate in the military and diplomatic effort President Obama launched last week might also antagonize congressional critics of the separate U.S. effort to strike a landmark nuclear deal with Iran this fall. Republican hawks and pro-Israel Democrats alike have already accused the administration of being too generous in negotiations now running up on a November deadline.
Iran is indisputably a major player in whatever happens next in Iraq and Syria, and as the Islamic State has eclipsed both the rebel war in Syria and sectarian fragmentation in Iraq as the most instant threat, Iran finds itself on the same side as the United States and Sunni Arab states it considers adversaries.
Whether Iran is part of the formal coalition or not, that common cause makes many in the United States and Iran nervous. It may also offer a new sphere of cooperation for the two nations, estranged since 1979. Both Iran and the United States see the Islamic State as a looming threat best addressed swiftly, although it's not clear that Iran would go along with unilateral American airstrikes inside Syria.
On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said the international alliance against the Islamic State was "shrouded in serious ambiguities."
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US-led coalition seeks to exclude Iran from fight against Islamic State