28 April 2015

Editorial: Australia and Iran to Cooperate in Fight Against ISIS

By Franz-Stefan Gady

Canberra and Tehran move closer in the fight against Sunni extremism.

Last Sunday, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that Australia and Iran have agreed to an “informal arrangement” to share intelligence about Australians fighting for the Islamic State (IS) or ISIS in Iraq, BBC News reported.

“During my discussions with the national leadership here it was agreed that we could share intelligence. We discussed the opportunities to share intelligence, information on who is in Iraq — clearly we want information on Australians and they agreed that they would be prepared to share intelligence,” Bishop said during a press conference in Tehran.

Around 100 Australian citizens are believed to have traveled to Iraq and Syria with the intention of joining up with Islamic State extremists. Australia already pushed for more cooperation on what Australia’s foreign minister last week called the ”most significant global threat at present” back in October 2014.

Read the full story at The Diplomat