美国欲与伊朗商讨伊拉克局势
Washington is considering direct talks with Iran on the security situation in Iraq, a US official has told the BBC.
一位美国官员透露，美国正在考虑与伊朗展开直接对话，商讨伊拉克的安全局势。
The move comes as US President Barack Obama weighs up（权衡） options on action to take in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the US condemned as "horrifying" photos posted online by Sunni militants that appear to show fighters massacring Iraqi soldiers.
In the scenes, the soldiers are shown being led away and lying in trenches before and after their "execution".
The Iraqi military said the pictures were real, but their authenticity（真实性） has not been independently confirmed.
The BBC's Jim Muir, in northern Iraq, says if the photographs are genuine, it would be by far the biggest single atrocity since the time of the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Their emergence came as the Iraqi government claimed to have "regained the initiative" against an offensive by Sunni rebels led by ISIS - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Extremists captured key cities, including Mosul and Tikrit, last week, but several towns have now been retaken from the rebels.
However the insurgents（叛乱分子） captured the northern city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, overnight after a heavy mortar bombardment.
The images appear to show captured Iraqi soldiers in civilian clothes being led away by militants, as the BBC's John Simpson reports.