WASHINGTON: The US policy toward Iran has not changed, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in response to a report that US President Barack Obama had written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the campaign against Islamic State insurgents.

Earnest said he could not comment on private correspondence between Obama and a world leader.

“I’m not in a position to discuss private correspondence between the president and any world leader,” he said at a White House briefing. “I can tell you that the policy that the president and his administration have articulated about Iran remains unchanged.”

Earnest said the United States had discussed the campaign against Islamic State with Tehran on the sidelines of negotiations concerning Iran’s nuclear programme but gave no details.

“The United States will not cooperate militarily with Iran in that effort,” he said of the fight against Islamic State.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2014