US admits Iran's 'role'
Washington's arch-foe Iran has a role to play in tackling Islamic State militants who have overrun large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week that his government had rejected a request from the United States for cooperation on the battlefield.
US officials have not confirmed or denied making an offer in private, but they do not regard Iran as part of the coalition they are building to fight the IS militant scourge.
Kerry said Friday that in combating the jihadist threat "there is a role for nearly every country to play, including Iran."
Just last week, the top US diplomat had said it would be inappropriate to invite Iran to meetings seeking to building an international coalition because of Tehran's "engagement in Syria and elsewhere."
Iran is actively supporting Iraq's government against IS jihadists, and helping Syria in its battle against both the IS group and unaffiliated rebel groups.
Speaking before a group of 35 countries brought together for a meeting at the UN Security Council by top US diplomat John Kerry, Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, stressed the need to cooperate with governments in the region.
Meanwhile, forty-nine Turks were freed yesterday more than three months after the Islamic State group kidnapped them in Iraq, as tens of thousands fled across the Syrian border from the advancing jihadists.
It was not immediately clear what circumstances led to the Turks' release, which came as heavy clashes raged in neighbouring Syria between Kurds and Islamic State jihadists after they seized dozens of villages.
Nato member Turkey has so far been reluctant to take part in combat operations against the IS militants, or allow a US-led coalition to use its airbases for strikes against them, citing its concern over for the safety of the hostages.
The news came after France mounted air strikes in Iraq, becoming the first nation to join the US campaign and boosting American efforts to unite the world against the growing threat posed by the jihadists.
In Syria, where IS already holds significant territory, the group gained further ground, overrunning 60 Kurdish villages near the Turkish border in a two-day offensive, a monitor said Friday.
"In the past 48 hours, they have taken 60 villages, 40 on Friday alone," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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