The White House says the chance of a meeting between President Obama and Russian or Iranian leaders at the United Nation’s General Assembly meeting next week are slim to none.
“I don’t know that either of those individuals will appear on the president’s dance card next week,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Before last year’s annual U.N. summit, the media anticipated that Obama and Rouhani would begin to engage more directly after 30 years of hostilities between the two countries. Secretary of State John Kerry was working on a historic agreement with Iranians to begin negotiations on rolling back Tehran’s nuclear program.
But the summit came and went without such a grip and grin between the two leaders, prompting some to say Rouhani had “snubbed” Obama.
This year, the dynamic is much different, with the focus on U.S. efforts to form international and regional coalitions to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Differing reports out of the Middle East are creating confusion about Iran’s involvement in any U.S.-led coalition. Iran refused an offer from the United States to join the global alliance preparing to confront the Islamic State, according to a report in Reuters.
Earnest tried to clear up the confusion Monday. He stated flatly that the United States did not extend an offer to Iran to join its military efforts and “does not coordinate military action or share intelligence with the Iranians.”
Iran, a Shiite country, is already fighting the Islamic State and has an interest in trying to stop the group’s advance, Earnest said. He also said the U.S. and Iranian leaders have had some conversations on the topic on the sidelines of its talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.
“There’s still much that the U.S. and Iran disagrees on, but there is a shared interest that we have here,” he said, noting that he believed there would continue to be the “occasional back channel conversation on this topic” between the United States and other members of the international community and the Iranians.
But, he said, “our posture as it relates to not coordinating military actions or sharing intelligence hasn’t changed.”
