THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

John Kerry and others understand full well that any actions against ISIL/ISIS will require the cooperation and involvement of a country that we have been hostile to for the last 30 years.

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the Obama administration would keep the door open to confidential communications with Iran on the security crisis in Iraq, despite sarcastic criticism from Iran’s supreme leader, who said the American plan for bombing Islamic militants, their common enemy, was absurd.

Mr. Kerry acknowledged that the United States had opposed a role for Iran at the international conference here on strengthening a coalition to help the new government in Baghdad fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Both King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and top officials from the United Arab Emirates had informed the United States that they would not attend the meeting here if Iran was present, said Mr. Kerry, who also stressed that the United States would not coordinate militarily with the Iranians.

But Mr. Kerry also said that American officials were still prepared to talk to Iranian officials about Iraq and Syria, including on the margins of the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, which will resume in New York on Thursday.
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President François Hollande of France greeted President Fuad Masum of Iraq at the Elysée Palace in Paris on Monday. Credit John Schults/Reuters

Just because Iranians were not invited to the Paris conference, Mr. Kerry said, “doesn’t mean that we are opposed to the idea of communicating to find out if they will come on board or under what circumstances or whether there is the possibility of a change.”

Mr. Kerry said that “having a channel of communication on one of the biggest issues in the world today is common sense.”

Our Sunni buddies don't like Shi'ite Iran but there is no hiding the fact that Iran is the major player in Iraq. But the Sunnis in Iraq mistrust the Shi'ite leadership in Iraq and nobody likes the Kurds. Meanwhile ISIL/ISIS is doing everything it can to convince Sunnis in areas they control that they are on their side. And we expect to strighten this all out with a few smart bombs. Yeah, that'll work.