United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, said the U.S. is open to talk to Iran about the state of their nation and invite them to help fight against Islamic terrorist groups in Syria in a multi-nation conference in Paris last week. The news came as a surprise, as Kerry said previously in a conference in Baghdad, "The United States does not cooperate, militarily or otherwise, nor does it have any intention in this process of doing so, with Iran.”“The meeting of foreign ministers from Asia, the Middle East and the West was a first step toward deciding who does what in a multilayered offensive against the Islamic State group,” the Associated Press reported. The plan would include intensifying airstrikes, cutting off financing, and helping Baghdad with humanitarian aid to further reconstruction, according to AP. The plan will not include combat troops on the ground. "We are asking for airborne operations to be continued regularly against terrorist sites. We must not allow them to set up sanctuaries. We must pursue them wherever they are," Iraqi President, Fouad Massoum, said with an apparent reference to neighboring Syria, according to AP."We're not coordinating with Iran, but as I said, we're open to have a conversation at some point in time if there's a way to find something constructive," Kerry said during the conference. "I'm never going to shut the door to something that could solve a problem if there's a way to do it.”“I think the whole situation with Syria is a little tricky,” Carson Booher, an undeclared freshman from Arizona, said. “The US needs to take action, but not rush into things, or else we can cause more damage than necessary.”According to AP, the US has led airstrikes over Iraq since August, and planned on “going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.” “The strikes represent the newly broadened mission authorized by President Barack Obama to go on the offensive against the Islamic State group wherever it is,” AP said."We must bring them to justice and we must stop the fighters in neighboring countries from joining them," Massoum said at the conference in Paris."There will be no success in Iraq without cooperation with Iran," said Francois Gere of the French Institute of Strategic Analysis added.
Writer: Emily Halls ~ Multimedia Journalist
