IRNA: American Efforts to Meet with Iran's Ambassador in Iraq Go Unanswered

The state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday, September 26, that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq and American diplomats have attempted "several" times in the past month and a half to meet and discuss with the Iranian ambassador and senior Iranian diplomats, but the Iranian side has not responded to them. The news agency stated that the U.S. ambassador intended to discuss "some internal issues in Iraq" with the Iranian ambassador. IRNA further quoted an anonymous "party source" in Iraq, stating that U.S. embassy officials sought the "mediation" of several "prominent Iraqi figures" to facilitate discussions with Iranian diplomats. According to IRNA, U.S. embassy officials' attempts to engage with Iranian diplomats have been ongoing since the fall of Mosul in June of last year, through various diplomatic channels and Iraqi political figures. In this context, Hassan Danaeifar, Iran's ambassador to Iraq, told IRNA that "we fundamentally do not trust the Americans and currently see no need to talk to the American side." Mr. Danaeifar did not refer to the recent attempts by American diplomats to engage with Iranian diplomats in his remarks to IRNA. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic stated on September 24, 2014, that he opposed the U.S. request for cooperation in the fight against ISIS, which was communicated through the U.S. ambassador in Iraq. Meanwhile, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported on February 13 of the same year that Ayatollah Khamenei did not commit to cooperation between Tehran and Washington in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in response to a letter from President Barack Obama, reportedly written to him in October. The Supreme Leader emphasized on Saturday, July 18, that negotiations and the subsequent comprehensive nuclear agreement would not change Iran's policy towards the U.S. "in any case," and the two countries would not negotiate on "various global" issues or have "bilateral" and "regional" discussions. The IRNA report comes at a time when Iranian and American ambassadors in Iraq had several discussions about the security of this country in 2007. Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who participated in these discussions, previously described Iran's policy in Iraq after the rise of the Islamic State as "very destructive" and stated that "at least the Quds Force is pursuing a policy of permanent division in Iraq so that the country is divided into three sections: Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish."