According to the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama sent a secret letter to the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US president allegedly emphasized the importance of Iran in the fight against the Islamic State, but subjected any joint action to the Ayatollah’s approval of the negotiations conducted by President Hassan Rohani in Vienna. In addition, he reportedly pledged that he would not strike the Syrian Arab Republic or other allies of Iran.

This letter was written in mid-October, that is to say before the midterm US elections and a Democrat defeat in Congress. The leak by the Wall Street Journal reinforces the pressure on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Indeed, not only President Obama’s offer is difficult to beat, but the Republican Congress is likely to exert pressure on him against any agreement.

Washington has been in talks with Tehran since mid-2012, but only made it known after the first result was obtained: the election of Sheikh Hassan Rouhani as President of the Islamic Republic.

Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s successor, denounced the crimes of US imperialism and stands for the independence of his country whatever the price. Instead, president Sheikh Hassan Rohani - whose election was endorsed by Khamenei - is said to have negotiated a very profitable deal economically, but abandoned the anti-imperialist stance of his country. If the negotiations fall through, Washington would be prepared to destabilize the Islamic Republic [1].

Without waiting to see what Iran’s position or Washington’s reaction will be, the Syrian Arab Republic has preemptively renewed its request to the Russian Federation for the delivery of S-300 missiles, the only means of obstructing an attack by Washington.

“Obama Wrote Secret Letter to Iran’s Khamenei About Fighting Islamic State”, Jay Solomon et Carol E. Lee, Wall Street Journal, 6 November 2014.

[1] “Storm Warning in Iran”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Roger Lagassé, Voltaire Network, 13 October 2014.