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ByKenDilanianAnd Vivian Salama The Associated Press WASHINGTON Iranianjets have carried out airstrikes against Islamic State mili- tants in Iraq in recent days, Pentagon officials and inde- pendent analysts say, un- derscoring the strange alli- ances generated by the war against the extremist group that has beheaded Ameri- cans and killed and terror- ized Iraqi civilians. Washington and Tehran are locked in tough negoti- ations over Iran's nuclear program. But the two ad- versaries have been fight- ing parallel campaigns on the same side in Iraq to de- fend the Shiite-dominated government — and the re- gion's Kurds — from IS mili- tants who seized a large sec- tion of the country. It has long been known that Iranian troops and ad- visers have been fighting alongside Iraqi forces, but until this week there had been no confirmation of Ira- nian air activity. The timing and nature of the strikes are not clear, but a senior U.S. official said they occurred in Di- yala province, which ex- tends from northeast Bagh- dad to the Iranian border. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not autho- rized to disclose that infor- mation. The Qatari-based broad- caster Al-Jazeera filmed a jet flying over Iraq on Nov. 30 that was identified by Jane's Defence Weekly as an American-made F-4 Phantom. The Phantom, a twin-engine fighter bomber that was sold to Iran's U.S.- backed shah in the 1970s, was last produced by Mc- Donnell Aircraft Corp. in 1981. Iran in the 1980s fought a brutal, ultimately stale- mated war with Iraq when that country was led by Sad- dam Hussein and his Sunni- controlled Baath Party. But the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam left an Iraqi government closely aligned with Iran. A majority of Iraqis are Shiite, as are most Iranians. The Islamic State group, which also controls parts of Syria, is led by Sunni ex- tremists and has attracted many Sunnis who felt dis- enfranchised by Baghdad. In public, U.S. officials have walked a careful line over the strikes, while Ira- nian officials have flatly de- nied them. Neither side has an interest in appearing to cooperate with the other. America's Arab allies in the fight against the Islamic State, including Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Qatar, would not want to be seen as fighting alongside Shi- ite Iran against a group of Sunni militants. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokes- man, said Tuesday he had seen "nothing that would dispute" that Iran has car- ried out airstrikes in east- ern Iraq. The U.S. was "not taking a position" on the strikes, he said. Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that Iranian attacks on IS mil- itants would represent a positive development. "I think it's self-evident that if Iran is taking on ISIL in some particular place, and it's confined to taking on ISIL, and it has an im- pact, its net effect is posi- tive," Kerry told reporters. "But that's not something we're coordinating." In Iran, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, Marzieh Afkham, denied that Iran has cooperated with the U.S.-led coali- tion, but she neither con- firmed nor denied Ira- nian airstrikes against IS in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also sen- sitive to the US-Arab coali- tion that has been carrying out airstrikes against IS and training the Iraqi mili- tary to take IS on itself, told reporters Wednesday, "I'm not aware there were Ira- nian airstrikes." Hakim al-Zamili, a Shi- ite Iraqi lawmaker who heads the Security and De- fense Committee in Par- liament, said Iran "is seri- ous in fighting Daesh," us- ing the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. "It has advisers in country. It provides Iraq with weapons and ammunition," al-Zamili said, adding that he had no knowledge of whether Ira- nian airstrikes had been carried out. "If Iran has carried out airstrikes against Daesh, in coordination with the Iraqi government, it is a wel- comed step," he said. STRANGE ALLIANCES US: Iran launches airstrikes in Iraq against IS By Karl Ritter The Associated Press LIMA, PERU With temper- ature data showing 2014 currently tied for the hot- test year on record, the U.N. weather agency on Wednesday rejected claims that global warming has paused. The World Meteorolog- ical Organization said the global average tempera- ture in January-October was 0.57 Celsius (1.03 Fahr- enheit) above average, the same as in record hot year 2010. The ocean temperature set a new record in the nine-month period, while land temperatures were the fourth or fifth highest since record-keeping began in the 19th century, the WMO said in a report released at U.N. climate talks in Lima and at its headquarters in Geneva. "The provisional infor- mation for 2014 means that 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. "There is no standstill in global warming." Climate skeptics point to a perceived hiatus in the temperature rise since 1998, an exceptionally hot year, to support their claims that man-made warming is not a big problem. Most cli- mate scientists reject that idea. Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University said the long-term warming trend is combined with nat- ural variations that tend to be cyclical, with a period of lower-than-average warm- ing followed by a period of rapid warming. "Whether such a period is about to begin, we can- not say but the warm 2014 is a reminder that the warm- ing never stopped and the long term trend is up, up, up," Oppenheimer said. Parts of the planet were cooler than average, includ- ing large areas of the U.S., Canada and central Rus- sia. But most of the world experienced temperatures above average, with heat waves in South Africa, Aus- tralia and Argentina in Jan- uary and in large parts of South America in October, according to the WMO as- sessment, which was based on two global data sets from the U.S. and one from Europe. Ocean temperatures were particularly high in the northern hemisphere from June to October. "Around 93 percent of the excess energy trapped in the atmosphere by green- house gases from fossil fu- els and other human activ- ities ends up in the oceans. Therefore, the heat content of the oceans is key to un- derstanding the climate system," the WMO said. While scientists are now 95 percent certain that the temperature rise since the middle of the 20th century is mostly man-made, they can't say with the same confidence how the warm- ing affects different parts of the climate system, includ- ing the frequency of tropi- cal storms or hurricanes. By Nov. 13 there had been 72 tropical storms, well be- low the average of 89. Arctic sea ice shrunk to the sixth lowest level on re- cord in September, while Antarctic sea ice grew to a record extent for the third straight year. The concentration in the atmosphere of carbon diox- ide, a key greenhouse gas, rose to a new high of 396 parts per million last year, the WMO said, 142 percent above the level before the industrial revolution, when people started burning fos- sil fuels for energy. Figures for 2014 were not yet ready. In Lima, delegates from more than 190 countries are trying to lay the ground- work for a global emissions pact that's planned to be adopted next year. GLOBAL TEMPERATURES UN w ea th er a ge nc y: 2 01 4 on track for hottest year RODRIGOABD—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Women gather at a popular market in Yungay, Peru on Tuesday. Peru's glaciers have lost more one-fi h of their mass in just three decades, and the 70percent Peru's 30 million people who inhabit the country's Pacific coastal desert, depend on glacial runoff for hydropower and to irrigate crops. By Aron Heller The Associated Press JERUSALEM Even before Israel's hastily called elec- tion campaign kicks into gear, a former ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netan- yahu is shaping up to be the biggest potential chal- lenge to his re-election. Moshe Kahlon was the most popular Cabinet min- ister in Netanyahu's previ- ous government, drawing wide appeal for his work- ing-class background and for pushing daring re- forms. But prior to the 2013 election he abruptly quit politics over differences with Netanyahu. Now he's back with a new centrist party that could tip the scales in favor of those seeking to topple the long- time Israeli leader. Netanyahu's coalition disintegrated this week in dramatic fashion and lawmakers speedily voted to dissolve parliament Wednesday, setting the country on a crash course for national elections in March — two years ahead of schedule. Kahlon responded swiftly, officially announc- ing the new party Wednes- day in a speech to univer- sity students. "I am return- ing to the political arena," he said. "I used to be in a very strong political frame- work, but I decided to es- tablish a new framework and this is for our chil- dren." He gave no details on his political platform. He has historically taken hard-line positions toward the Palestinians, but more recently has ex- pressed support for a ter- ritorial compromise that would establish a Pales- tinian state. However, his agenda has focused much more heavily on economic and cost-of-living issues. After his unwieldy co- alition of secular centrists and religious hardliners imploded, Netanyahu is looking to secure a fourth term as premier by increas- ing support for his hard- line Likud Party. He hopes to secure a strong majority for a "national bloc" that includes his traditional al- lies of ultra-Orthodox Jew- ish parties, Foreign Minis- ter Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Yisrael Beitenu faction and the hard line Jewish Home party, which is strongly linked to the West Bank settler move- ment. This bloc tends to take a hard line in peace talks with the Palestinians. In the last vote, the par- ties earned a combined 61 out of 120 seats in parlia- ment. The majority proved too slim for Netanyahu to rule effectively and he was forced to reach out to two centrist parties, Yesh Atid and Hatnuah, to shore up his majority. Netanyahu's feuds with these parties led to his decision to call a new election. This time a strong showing by Kahlon could give Netanyahu the breathing room he needs — in return for a top Cab- inet post. Alternatively he could crown an alternative if Netanyahu can't muster a majority on his own, said Avraham Diskin, a politi- cal scientist from Jerusa- lem's Hebrew University. "He is a central pivot in this election," he said. "He's in great shape." Early opinion polls pre- dict that Kahlon will win a solid 10 to 12 seats, even before announcing a plat- form or fellow party mem- bers. He appears poised to take a big chunk out of the elusive "center" of Is- raeli politics — an elec- torate tired of the tradi- tional Likud and Labor parties. Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid was the big winner in 2013 after tapping into economic concerns among this group. 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