Kerry says any Iran strikes against IS ‘positive’

BRUSSELS: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday welcomed any Iranian military action against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq as "positive" after the Pentagon said Tehran had carried out air strikes against the group.

Kerry, hosting a meeting of an anti-IS coalition in Brussels, said international airstrikes were finally stopping the advance of the jihadists across Iraq and Syria, but warned it could take years to finally defeat them.

But in a sign of the deepening complexity of the regional conflagration, Syria´s Iranian-backed President Bashar al-Assad criticised the Western and Arab air strikes for having no effect.

Kerry told the meeting of officials from 60 states in the coalition that a campaign of around 1,000 strikes had had a "significant" impact on the Sunni extremist IS, which declared a caliphate in Syria and Iraq in June.

"Our commitment will most likely be measured in years," he told the meeting at NATO headquarters, adding that the partners would "engage in this campaign for as long as it takes to prevail".

He denied there was any military coordination with Iran, after the Pentagon said earlier that Iranian F-4 Phantom jets -- acquired from the United States before the 1979 Islamic revolution -- had deployed against IS fighters in eastern Iraq´s Diyala province.
But he suggested there is a tacit understanding between mainly Shia Iran and the United States to tackle a common threat.

"If Iran is taking on (IS) in some particular place... and it has an impact, then it´s going to be net effect (that) is positive," Kerry told a press conference after the meeting.
Iran refused to confirm or deny carrying out any such strikes.