‘Iran and US unlikely to overtly cooperate in war on ISIL’

TEHRAN, Sept.3 (MNA) – A Columbia University professor has said that it is unlikely for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US to cooperate in any war against ISIL. Robert Jervis, the Adlai E. Stevenson professor of international affairs at Columbia University, says he doubts there will be “overt cooperation” between Iran and the US in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq (ISIL). However, Jervis says Iran and the United States may “adopt policies” that pursue a similar goal. “I doubt if there will be overt cooperation, but the US and Iran may well adopt policies that work on similar or parallel track,” Professor Jervis tells the Tehran Times and Mehr News Agency. In an exclusive interview with Mehr News Robert Jervis said that lack of ways to deal with ISIL put the US in a bind. What follows is the full text of the interview. Recently media outlets said it was possible that the US may invade Syria to track ISIL militants, but President Obama said on Thursday that his administration has not yet devised a strategy to confront ISIL. So why is Obama hesitant to confront ISIL? There is no chance the US will invade, and it isn't clear whether bombing will do much good. The lack of ways to deal with ISIL put the US in a bind. (Iran confronts somewhat similar dilemmas.) How can the United States and other countries defeat ISIL? If there were a good way to do this, the US would have done it. Do you see any possibility of cooperation between the US and Iran in the campaign against ISIL? I doubt if there will be overt cooperation, but the US and Iran may well adopt policies that work on similar or parallel track. If Iran and the US cooperate in the war against ISIL, can it affect Iran’s talks with the 5+1 group? I don't foresee cooperation on the scale and intensity of the sort that would be required to produce a major impact on the nuclear negotiations. Some analysts say the US, by supporting militants opposed to the Beshar al-Assad government, helped create such terrorist groups. What is your opinion? This is the major problem. The US wants to support moderate and tolerant groups, but they are weak if they exist at all. Some experts say the US creates groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL. What is your assessment of such remarks? This might be rational, but is far removed from US policy, which may be foolish but isn't this devious. Interview: Abdol Hamid Bayati