US Seeks Iran’s Help to Deal with Iraq Terror Threat

Local Editor

Washington is reportedly considering a bid to open dialogue with Iran to discuss Iraq's security concerns and ways to respond to Takfiri insurgency that has been gaining ground in western Iraq, as US officials said according to a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, unnamed senior US officials are cited as saying that the talks with Iran are likely to begin as early as this week while Iran is also engaged in talks with P5+1 representatives over its nuclear energy program.

The development comes as Iran's top national security official rejected as "unreal" Western claims on potential Iran-US cooperation in crisis-hit Iraq on Sunday, insisting that Iran will consider helping Baghdad on its own if formally requested by the Iraqi government.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council [SNSC] Ali Shamkhani said such reports are part of the West's "psychological warfare" against Iran and are "completely unreal."

"As we have announced, we will examine the issue of helping [Iraq] within the framework of international regulations in case of an official request by the Iraqi government and this will be a totally bilateral process and has nothing to do with a third country," he added.

It is not yet clear which diplomatic channel the Obama administration will be using to approach Iran on the issue, the US daily added.

According to press reports, one option for the US is to go through the Austrian city of Vienna, where American and Iranian officials are scheduled to meet with other world powers to discuss Iran's nuclear energy program.

Earlier, the US State Department announced that the No. 2 US diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, will be going to Vienna to participate in those talks.

Meanwhile, hawkish US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been the top proponent of US-led sanctions against Iran, stated on Sunday that Washington needs Iran to avoid a government collapse in Iraq.

"We are probably going to need their help to hold Baghdad," Graham said during a nationally-televised news show.

Furthermore, Iran warned on Sunday that ‘any foreign military intervention in Iraq' would only complicate the crisis, after the US said it was deploying a warship in the Gulf.

Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, said that, "Iraq has the capacity and necessary preparations for the fight against terrorism and extremism," as she was quoted saying by the ISNA news agency.

She added, "Any action that complicates the situation in Iraq is not in the interests of the country nor of the region."

Iraq is battling an offensive by militants who have advanced to within 80 kilometers of Baghdad's city limits after seizing a part of the country's north.

Responding to the crisis, the Pentagon recently said the US has ordered an aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, into the Gulf.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team