‘Terror’ tag excludes Iran from UN summit

The U.S. did not invite Iran to Tuesday’s UN summit on combating the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups because it still designates Iran itself as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Even if he had been invited, it is not clear if Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would have taken part. He has made clear he has different views to the Obama administration on fighting IS.

However, the absence of an invitation to a critical meeting on violent extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, an issue in which Iran has a major stake, illustrates the remaining institutional and political barriers to U.S. cooperation with Iran even after the successful negotiation of a nuclear agreement on its nuclear programme in July.

State department officials confirmed that Iran’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was the reason for its exclusion from the countering IS summit being chaired by Mr. Obama on Tuesday.

Iran was first designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. state department in 1984 and the designation has been rolled over each year.

The latest state department report said: “Iran continued its terrorist-related activity in 2014, including support for Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, Lebanese Hezbollah, and various groups in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.”

The U.S. also accused Iran of increasing assistance to Iraqi Shia militias, one of which was designated a terrorist organisation, “in response to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant incursion into Iraq, and has continued to support other militia groups in the region. Iranian officials have complained that about being stigmatised by backing militia groups fighting Isis, something the US is also attempting to do.

The state sponsor of terrorism label does not present a legal barrier to negotiating with a national government, a fact that allowed the nuclear negotiations to take place, so there is an element of discretion in its application.

“These labels and lists reduce American manoeuvrability and flexibility at a time when agility is a critical property in foreign policy,” said Trita Parsi, the head of the National Iranian-American Council, an advocacy group promoting diplomacy with Iran