The airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq come as the United States won pledges to fight ISIS at an international summit in Paris. Some 30 countries signed on to a statement vowing to defeat ISIS “by any means necessary.” The United States did not invite Iran to the summit, but confirmed it had reached out with an unspecified offer of cooperation against ISIS. The Iranian government rejected the U.S. overture as “hollow and self-serving” and marred by “evil intentions.” France had wanted to invite Iran to the talks in Paris, but Secretary of State John Kerry said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would have boycotted. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Iran could still play a role.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond: “Having a coming together today of 30-odd countries, including 10 from the Middle East region, following the meeting in Jeddah last week, shows that we are building the momentum of support for the coalition and its objectives. In terms of Iran, I think it was always unlikely that Iran would become a fully fledged member of the coalition, but I think we should continue to hope that Iran will align itself broadly with the direction that the coalition is going and that we can expect Iran to be cooperative with the plans that the coalition is putting in place — if not actively a part of the coalition.”

Despite the pledges of cooperation, France is the only country to join the U.S. bombing effort so far, launching new surveillance flights over Iraq on Monday.