Sternly worded letter from the State Department to follow.
Via Times of Israel:
Russia and Iran, along with Iraq and the Syrian government, have agreed to set up a joint information center in Baghdad to coordinate operations against Islamic State militants, Russian media reported Saturday.
The center will serve to gather and analyze intelligence as well as coordinate military strikes against the radical jihadist group, a military diplomatic source told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
According to the report, the center will be headed by an officer of one of the four countries on a three-month rotating basis. Iraqi officials will run the center for the coming three months.
The anonymous source called the new venture “an important step in joint efforts of regional countries in the fight against international terrorism.”
On Friday, the American Fox News outlet reported that Russian, Syrian and Iranian military commanders had set up a “coordination cell” in Baghdad and were working with Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting the Islamic State.
The information is likely to concern to the US and its allies, which have warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country’s rapid recent military buildup in Syria would have a destabilizing effect on the region, and complicate the US-led coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq.