Senior sources have revealed that US President Barack Obama secretly wrote to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in mid-October, and urged Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program and join the US coalition against Islamic State (ISIS).
The letter, revealed by Wall Street Journal, told Khamenei that cooperation on ISIS depends on an agreement being reached by the November 24 deadline regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel has warned aims to build nuclear weapons.
Obama administration officials didn’t deny the letter when asked by foreign diplomats in recent days, the report added, although the US didn’t inform Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about the letter. The move is seen as disregarding the security concerns those countries have raised regarding Iran’s nuclear program and a potential nuclear arms race it could spark.
This is in fact the fourth time Obama has written Khamenei since taking office in 2009.
Khamenei has called for Israel’s destruction, and last month around the time of Obama’s letter blamed America for creating ISIS, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards recently clarified America remains its number one enemy.
Just last week American and Arab officials revealed to the Wall Street Journal that Obama has moved closer to Iran and it’s terror proxies Hamas and Hezbollah. They noted on secret channels of communications to Iran via senior Shi’ite sources in Iraq.
A senior Israeli source revealed two weeks before that that Obama may be holding secret talks with Iran – just as he was revealed last November to have been holding secret talks for over half a year prior to the recent controversial temporary nuclear agreement, and likewise reportedly had been easing sanctions on Iran for five months ahead of the deal.
Regarding the ISIS angle, US Secretary of State John Kerry last month backtracked and wouldn’t rule out military cooperation with Iran on ISIS, after earlier saying such cooperation was out of the question. According to reports, though Iran initially rejected the notion of such cooperation against ISIS, Tehran later said it would consider it – in return for a good deal in the nuclear talks.
The Democratic party was thoroughly trounced in mid-term elections on Tuesday, leaving Obama as a “lame duck” for the remaining time of his presidency until 2016 elections.
However, he reportedly has quietly been raising the “centrifuge ceiling” being offered to Iran, and statements from his administration indicate a desperation to strong-arm through a nuclear deal.
Iran, for its part, has drawn a “red line” at maintaining enough centrifuges to produce enough uranium for 38 A-bombs per year.
