U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (in center, left side) prepares to sit down with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (in center, right side) in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2014, before they begin a bilateral meeting focused on Iran's nuclear program. Photo: State Department.

JNS.org – The U.S. and Iran have “moved into an effective state of detente over the past year,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The report, citing senior U.S. and Arab officials, said, “Recent months have ushered in a change as the two countries have grown into alignment on a spectrum of causes, chief among them promoting peaceful political transitions in Baghdad and Kabul and pursuing military operations against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.”

The report noted that the change “could drastically alter the balance of power in the region, and risks alienating key U.S. allies,” such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Israel.

According to the report, the Obama administration has also “markedly softened its confrontational stance toward Iran’s most important nonstate allies”—the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups. During Operation Protective Edge this summer, U.S. diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, negotiated with Hamas leaders via Turkish and Qatari intermediaries.

The report, citing U.S. and Lebanese intelligence officials, said that U.S. intelligence agencies “have repeatedly tipped off Lebanese law-enforcement bodies close to Hezbollah about threats posed to Beirut’s government by Sunni extremist groups, including al-Qaeda and its affiliate Nusra Front in Syria.”