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The World This Week: Iran and US: the arm's-length alliance

05/12/2014

Iran and US: the arm's-length alliance

BBC World Service - The World This Week, Iran and US: the arm's-length alliance

Iran and the US co-operate over so-called Islamic State with Iraq acting as go-between.

After years of hostility, Iran and the United States appear to be working together to mount air strikes against so-called Islamic State.  Officials say Iraq is co-ordinating them.

Iraq and the United States appear to be working together to mount air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.  US officials say the government in Baghdad is co-ordinating the attacks.  Even this arm's-length co-operation stands in stark contrast to the years of hostility between them.  But recent talks on Iran's nuclear programme have also gone ahead without the usual rhetoric.  We ask: is this just a case of my enemy's enemy is my friend?  Or is Iran really coming in from the cold?

Also in the programme: China's hard line on pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong appears to be paying off; the British government stakes out the territory on which it wants to fight the next general election; and why there may be less than meets the eye to the video which swept India of two girls attacking some youths on a bus.

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