Kerry says no to Iran help in Islamic State fight

ANKARA, Turkey — The US says it would be inappropriate for Iran to attend an upcoming meeting in Paris on how to defeat the Islamic State terror group.

Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in the Turkish capital he has not been formally asked about whether Iran should participate in the meeting of diplomats set for Monday in Paris.

But Kerry says Iran should not be there, given its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad in his three-year war against rebels that are trying to oust him from power.

“No one has called me and asked me with respect to the presence of Iran, but I think under the circumstances at this moment in time… it would not be appropriate given the many other issues… with respect to their engagement in Syria and elsewhere,” Kerry told a press conference in Ankara.

Iranian proxy Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group, has been opaerting extensively in Syria, alongside Assad’s troops.

Kerry was in Ankara to press Turkey to join an international coalition against the Islamic State.

The US and the West are backing moderate opposition forces in the bloody war that has killed an estimated 190,000 people.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was confident that a broad coalition including Arab and European nations along with the United States would be formed against IS in Iraq.

“I am comfortable that it would be a broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States and others, contributing to every single different facet of what [President Barack] Obama laid out as a strategy… to degrade and destroy” the IS terrorists, Kerry said at the press conference.

Earlier Friday, amid Kerry’s intense diplomatic efforts, 10 key Middle Eastern governments agreed to back Obama’s newly announced campaign against the Islamic State terror group, which has conquered large swaths of Syria and Iraq.

In an official document, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Sunni states in the Persian Gulf formally joined Obama’s coalition, pledging to stanch the terror group’s funding and possibly even contribute directly to the war effort.

The signatories of the document, which is known as the Jeddah Communique, also include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In it, the Arab countries pledge to staunch sources of funding for the Islamic State, as well as stem the flow of foreign fighters to the group.

The 10 states “agreed to do their share in the comprehensive fight” against Islamic State, said a statement after a meeting Thursday between Kerry and his Arab counterparts.

The states said they would be “as appropriate, joining in the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign,” possibly even participating in it directly.

The document was signed after a flurry of diplomatic efforts by Kerry, who was in Jeddah Thursday to secure the support of the Arab states — many of which have supplied Syrian rebel groups fighting against  Assad, including extremist ones, with weapons and cash in recent years.

Iran on Thursday cast doubt on the “seriousness and sincerity” of the international coalition the United States was building against IS.

“Some of the countries in this coalition are among the ones who provided financial and security support for terrorists in Iraq and Syria,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.

“Others are hoping to bring about political change in Iraq and Syria in favour of their own interests.”

Iran has repeatedly accused Gulf monarchies of financing the jihadists.