Paul Lewis in Washington, Spencer Ackerman in New York and Saeed Kamali Dehghan in London-Tuesday 17 June 2014
- Obama authorises 275 personnel ‘equipped for combat’
- White House considers special forces to advise Iraqis
- US and Iran rule out military cooperation
The Obama adminstration has ordered the urgent deployment of several hundred armed troops in and around Iraq, after the rampant insurgency in the country forced the first talks between the US and Iran over a common security interest in more than a decade.