(Wall Street Journal) Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee - U.S. President Barack Obama secretly wrote Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month and described a shared interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Obama stressed to Khamenei 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 by a Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline. The letter marked at least the fourth time Obama has written Iran's political and religious leader since taking office in 2009 and pledging to engage with Tehran's Islamist government. Obama and senior administration officials in recent days have placed the chances for such a deal at only 50-50. "There's a sizable portion of the political elite that cut their teeth on anti-Americanism," Obama said on Wednesday about Iran's leadership. "Whether they can manage to say 'Yes'...is an open question."
2014-11-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive