Obama writes Iran’s supreme leader about militants

FILE - This undated file photo posted on Monday, Nov. 4, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Office of the Islamic State group, a militant extremist group, shows fighting in Kobani, Syria. For a force that has built its reputation on projecting an aura of momentum and invincibility, the prolonged stalemate in Kobani is a setback for Islamic State militants with potential implications in terms of recruitment and support. Nearly two months after it launched its lightning assault on the small Kurdish town, the group is bogged down with an increasingly entrenched and costly battle in which hundreds of its fighters have been killed and a good deal of its military apparatus destroyed. (AP Photo/Raqqa Media Office, File) FILE - This undated file photo posted on Monday, Nov. 4, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Office of the Islamic State group, a militant extremist group, shows fighting in Kobani, Syria. For a force that has built its reputation on projecting an aura of momentum and invincibility, the prolonged stalemate in Kobani is a setback for Islamic State militants with potential implications in terms of recruitment and support. Nearly two months after it launched its lightning assault on the small Kurdish town, the group is bogged down with an increasingly entrenched and costly battle in which hundreds of its fighters have been killed and a good deal of its military apparatus destroyed. (AP Photo/Raqqa Media Office, File)

By Associated Press November 7, 2014 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – In a rare outreach to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Barack Obama has written a letter about the fight against Islamic State militants, a common enemy in Syria and Iraq, according to diplomatic sources.

The U.S. and Iran are each engaged in military efforts to degrade the Islamic State group, essentially putting the longtime foes on the same side in the campaign against the extremists. However, the Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that it is not coordinating and will not coordinate its military actions with Iran, though officials from both countries have discussed the matter more broadly.

Obama’s letter to Iran’s powerful religious leader comes against the backdrop of the looming Nov. 24 deadline in nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, as well as five other world powers. While Obama has previously sent letters to Khamenei, any communication between the two men has been extremely rare.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported that Obama had sent the letter, said it described a shared interest between the U.S. and Iran in fighting the IS and stressed that any cooperation on that would be largely contingent on Iran agreeing to the nuclear deal. However, while not confirming or denying the existence of the letter, administration officials said there were still no plans to cooperate or coordinate with Iran against the militants.

“The United States will not cooperate militarily with Iran in that effort,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We won’t share intelligence with them.”