Americans: US should seek to work with Iran against ISIL

A new poll has shown that the majority of Americans say the United States should seek to work with Iran to help the Iraqi government beat back militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

According to the poll conducted by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and the Program for Public Consultation, 61 percent of the American people believe Washington should seek to cooperate with Iran in Iraq.

The ISIL Takfiri militants have been wreaking havoc in Iraq since June 10 when they took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, the birthplace of former Baathist dictator Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi armed forces have been pushing back the ISIL terrorist militants, who enjoy support from loyalists of Iraq’s former Baathist regime. Media reports said on Tuesday that the Iraqi army regained full control of Tikrit during a major offensive against the terrorist militants.

Last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama administration is “open to discussions” with Iran and does “not rule out” military cooperation with the Islamic Republic to help the Iraqi government beat back ISIL militants.

However, Iran said the Iraqi army is capable of dealing with the crisis itself and Tehran sees no need to negotiate with Washington on the issue.

Several reports, observers, and even some US officials like Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) have said that the US has been behind the rise of ISIL. Last month, Paul said the US has been arming the ISIL militants in Syria. “I think we have to understand first how we got here,” Paul said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ “We have been arming ISIS in Syria.”

In a phone interview with Press TV on June 30, Wayne Madsen, an American investigative journalist, said that CIA director John Brennan who is “a known Saudiphile” has been instrumental in training and arming these militants in Iraq and Syria.