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Kerry Says U.S. Is Still Open to Talking to Iran About ISIS Threat Kerry Says U.S. Is Open to Talking to Iran, Even as Ayatollah Is Dismissive
(about 9 hours later)
PARIS — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the Obama administration would keep the door open to confidential communications with Iran on the security crisis in Iraq, despite sarcastic criticism from Iran’s supreme leader, who said the American plan for bombing Islamic militants, their common enemy, was absurd. PARIS — The Obama administration is open to talking with Iran on the security crisis in Iraq, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, even after Iran’s supreme leader angrily said Tehran would no longer discuss Middle East issues with the United States.
Mr. Kerry acknowledged that the United States had opposed a role for Iran at the international conference here on strengthening a coalition to help the new government in Baghdad fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Mr. Kerry was speaking as 26 nations, Iran conspicuously not among them, gathered in Paris for an international conference on helping the new government in Baghdad fight the extremist Sunni group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Both King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and top officials from the United Arab Emirates had informed the United States that they would not attend the meeting here if Iran was present, said Mr. Kerry, who also stressed that the United States would not coordinate militarily with the Iranians. He acknowledged that he had opposed Iran’s attendance, but he stressed that the United States was still prepared to speak with the Iranians about Iraq and Syria, including on the margins of the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program that will resume in New York on Thursday.
But Mr. Kerry also said that American officials were still prepared to talk to Iranian officials about Iraq and Syria, including on the margins of the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, which will resume in New York on Thursday. Just because the Iranians were not invited to the conference, Mr. Kerry said, “doesn’t mean that we are opposed to the idea of communicating to find out if they will come on board or under what circumstances or whether there is the possibility of a change.”
Just because Iranians were not invited to the Paris conference, Mr. Kerry said, “doesn’t mean that we are opposed to the idea of communicating to find out if they will come on board or under what circumstances or whether there is the possibility of a change.” In Tehran, the tone was quite different. Iranian officials gave out flurries of statements to local reporters on Monday, saying that they had rejected multiple invitations by the United States to join the coalition.
Mr. Kerry said that “having a channel of communication on one of the biggest issues in the world today is common sense.” On Monday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, issued a scathing and, at times, sarcastic statement on the day he left the hospital after prostate surgery. In remarks posted on his personal website, he said he had enjoyed his recent time in the hospital because he had “a hobby,” which was “listening to Americans making statements on combating ISIS — it was really amusing.” Such statements, he added, are “absurd, hollow and biased.”
Still, Mr. Kerry acknowledged that previous attempts made by Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns to draw the Iranians into a discussion of regional issues on the margins of earlier rounds of talks had not been productive. The Obama administration has long sought to separate the nuclear talks with Iran from discussions of regional issues, out of concern that Tehran might seek concessions in the nuclear negotiations in return for cooperating on Syria or Iran.
“The confidential discussions never got to that sort of substance,” Mr. Kerry said. Mr. Kerry also acknowledged that the administration’s previous effort, led by the deputy secretary of state, William J. Burns, to draw Iran into quiet talks on Iraq and other regional issues had not been productive. “The confidential discussions never got to that sort of substance,” Mr. Kerry told reporters.
In Tehran, the tone was quite different. Iranian officials gave out flurries of statements to local reporters on Monday, saying they had rejected multiple invitations by the United States to join the coalition. Never, they asserted, would Iran consider working with the United States to cleanse the region of terrorists, who the Iranians asserted had been created and nurtured by the West. When ISIS burst onto the global stage this summer, some analysts speculated that Tehran and Washington might be able to narrow their deep differences over Iraq, Syria and the Middle East. The same thought occurred after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the two antagonists shared a mutual antipathy for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The country’s highest leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, indicated that no matter who had invited whom, Iran would sit arms crossed and watch as the coalition tries to bomb ISIS away. For a number of reasons, the fissures have not narrowed appreciably. First, in mobilizing international support for Iraq, Mr. Kerry has turned to Sunni Arab nations, which remain deeply suspicious of Iran’s intentions.
On Monday, as Mr. Khamenei was discharged from the hospital after a prostate operation, he said that he had enjoyed his time as a patient, since he had “a hobby,” which was “listening to Americans making statements on combating ISIS — it was really amusing,” a statement posted on his personal website read. “Of course,” he said, such statements are “absurd, hollow and biased.” Both King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and top officials from the United Arab Emirates made clear to Mr. Kerry that they would not attend the Paris conference if Iran was present. So when the French raised the prospect of a role for Iran, Mr. Kerry was bluntly opposed.
Mr. Khamenei, who has long argued that the United States and other Western countries have had a hand in the creation and swift expansion of ISIS, gave details on what he said were several instances of outreach by American officials, asking Iran to participate. For the Obama administration, it came down to a choice between the coalition it is trying to assemble to support Iraq’s new government politically and militarily and an Iran whose allies include two longtime American adversaries: President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the anti-American Shiite militias in Iraq.
Although some Iranian officials wanted to consider the offer, Mr. Khamenei vetoed it. “I said we will not accompany America in this matter because they have got dirty intentions and hands,” he said. “How can it be possible to cooperate with the United States in such conditions?” Second, Iran fears that the coalition Mr. Kerry is assembling will ultimately undermine Mr. Assad, who has been receiving extensive financial and military support from Tehran. To counter Iran in Syria, the administration is pressing ahead with its plan to train moderate Syrian rebels at bases in Saudi Arabia.
The real goal of the American-led coalition is to be able to bomb Iraq, and Iran’s main regional ally, Syria, with impunity, Mr. Khamenei said, revealing increasing worries of an American drone army hovering over the region. “They seek pretexts to interfere in Iraq and Syria, just as they did in Pakistan, where it can commit any crime it wants,” Mr. Khamenei said. Finally, any form of partnership with the “Great Satan,” particularly one in which the United States plays a decisive role, is hard for Mr. Khamenei and his hard-line supporters to stomach. In pushing back, Iran appears to be arguing that it would not want to be part of any club that would not welcome it as a charter member.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, declined a request by Mr. Kerry, the ayatollah said. “Even the American deputy foreign minister, who is a woman and everyone knows her, had repeated this request in a meeting with Mr. Araghchi again,” Mr. Khamenei said, referring to Under Secretary Wendy Sherman and the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. “But Mr. Araghchi also rejected her request.” “Even the American deputy foreign minister, who is a woman and everyone knows her, had repeated this request in a meeting with Mr. Araghchi again,” Mr. Khamenei said, referring to Wendy R. Sherman, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister. “But Mr. Araghchi also rejected her request.”
Ideologically, any form of partnership with Iran’s old enemy is hard to stomach for Mr. Khamenei and his supporters. Analysts say Iran’s leaders simply cannot participate in an umbrella group in which the United States plays a decisive role. Iran appeared to be signaling that it has a coalition of its own. Along with the ayatollah, a major Iranian-based Iraqi Shiite militia also bitterly assailed the United States on Monday.
Iran also fears that the coalition will ultimately further undermine its regional ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who has been receiving extensive financial and military support from the Iranians. “We will not fight alongside the American troops under any kind of conditions whatsoever,” the militia, Kataib Hezbollah, said in a statement on its website, adding that its only contact with the American military would be “if we fight each other.”
“Are we stupid to join the Americans and their coalition?” asked Hossein Sheikholseslami, a parliamentary adviser who helps shape Iran’s Syria policies. “Except for the Iraqis, they are all the same people who over the past three years have been plotting against Syria in over 20 different conferences.” The fiery words from Tehran appeared to have little or no effect on the international conference. The 26 nations that participated issued a statement pledging their support for the new Iraqi government in its fight against ISIS, including military assistance. But the statement made no mention of Iran or any role it might play.
In another challenge to the American-led plan to intercede again in Iraq after withdrawing nearly three years ago, a major Iraqi Shiite militia at the forefront of the battle against ISIS said Monday that it would leave the battlefield if American soldiers joined the fight. “They committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight against Daesh, by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance,” said the statement, using the Iraqi name for ISIS. It added that the aid would be “in accordance with international law and without jeopardizing civilian security.”
“We will not fight alongside the American troops under any kind of conditions whatsoever,” the militia, Kata’b Hezbollah, said in a statement on its website. The only contact the militia foresees with the American military, the statement said, is “if we fight each other.”
The militia is supported by Iran but is unrelated to the Lebanese organization Hezbollah, except for having a shared patron and a similar ideology. Its threat illustrated the delicate line that the Obama administration proposes to walk in its efforts to defeat the Sunni extremists of ISIS without either enhancing or fighting the rival Shiite militias.
“America became the direct reason behind the suffering of the Iraqi people when it invaded Iraq,” Kata’b Hezbollah said in its statement. “The U.S. Army will not be allowed to return to Iraq.”