US-Iran rapprochement: Are they there yet?

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-240614.html



US-Iran rapprochement: Are they there yet?
By Ehsan Ahrari
Jun 24, '14

Iran, an erstwhile member of the invented "axis of evil", and the United States, or "the great Satan", are faced with the difficult proposition of finding ways to snatch the regime of Nuri al-Maliki from the jaws of the murderous ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Sham).

No one should kid him or herself that a meeting of the minds on that issue - if not a rapprochement - will happen anytime soon. There has been a yawning chasm of bad blood and ill-will in Tehran and Washington since 1979. The US bitterness toward Iran has oozed out in the past two days in Washington in a public disagreement between two top national security agencies of the United States: the Department of State (DOS) and the Department of Defense (DOD).

While Secretary of State John Kerry, who is now in Iraq, welcomed prospects for the consideration of all options involving Iran to save Iraq, a spokesman of the DOD categorically rejected such a possibility. That does not mean, however, that either the DOS or the DOD has final say over the matter. In the Barack Obama presidency, it is Obama himself who decides the modalities of the twists and turns of America's foreign policy.

What might transform the potential cooperation of US and Iran into a reality is the fact that Iraq cannot be saved without using the option of "boots on the ground," to unravel the territorial gains made by ISIS. And Obama is on the record categorically opposing sending American forces into Iraq. Iran, on the other hand, already has a powerful presence through the Quds force in Iraq - which has an established record in maneuvering to bring about the expulsion of the US occupation forces.