In First Talks Since 1979, UK And Iran To Discuss IS
British PM, Islamic Republic president to meet Wednesday at UN General Assembly
By Katherine HADDON September 23, 2014, 8:51 pm
LONDON (AFP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron will hold talks on Wednesday with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani over unrest in Iraq and Syria, officials said, announcing the first meeting between the countries’ leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The talks will occur on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. They come as Western powers seek to build support for the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which holds swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria and which has beheaded two US journalists and a British aid worker.
The United States and Arab allies launched the first air and sea strikes against IS militants in Syria on Tuesday, expanding action against the jihadists the US has been leading in Iraq since the start of August.
Although the United States excluded its longtime enemy Iran from the coalition it has built against IS, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Iran still had a role to play in tackling the jihadists.
Iran, which usually rails against any US presence in the Middle East, has been unusually accepting of the US action in Iraq, where it is also tackling IS militants.
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http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-talks-since-1979-uk-and-iran-to-discuss-is/#ixzz3EC7E3mSq
