While the highest US officials, including Obama, call the rise of terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq a threat to US national security, this deep mutual security concern can form the pillar of cooperation between Iran and the United States. Together, they face terrorists who not only have claimed territory but also obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from the central bank of Mosul.
Tehran and Washington’s common interests on managing the current crisis in Iraq include:
- Preventing an all-out sectarian war.
- Opposing the collapse of the post-Saddam Hussein political system in Iraq.
- Securing the safe passage of oil from the Persian Gulf region.
- Preventing the breakup of the state system in the Middle East.
- Avoiding further US military involvement in the Persian Gulf.
- Keeping oil resources out of the hands of terrorists.
- Preserving the territorial integrity of Iraq.
- Forming a more inclusive government to avoid sectarian violence and shape unity against terrorists and insurgents.
“US and Iran security cooperation could help save Iraq,” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, July 10, 2014.
