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Plans by the Islamic State (IS) to seize Iran's nuclear installations and build its own nuclear bomb have added a bizarre twist to the already convoluted issue of the West's confrontation with both sides of the Sunni-Shia conflict.
The plan, purported to have been discovered when Iraqi special forces raided the home of an IS commander six months ago, was published in the Sunday Times last weekend.
It outlines various plans by IS for fighting the Shi'ites, focusing on the main Shia power-base, Iran.
Some of the ideas sound downright fanciful, such as destroying Iran's caviar industry and ruining its Persian carpet trade by flooding the market with Afghan rugs.
Perhaps the most intriguing detail, however, was the plan to do a deal with Russia, offering it control of the oilfields IS now occupies in Iraq and Syria in exchange for the Kremlin ending its support for the Assad regime, and handing over Iran's "nuclear secrets".
In recent weeks, there have been suggestions - firmly denied by the Obama administration - that the West would be willing to "go easy" on Iran in exchange for co-operation against IS.
The talks between Iran and the group of international powers over the future of Iran's nuclear programme are expected to resume in two weeks in either Geneva or Vienna. Only seven weeks remain to the deadline for achieving a comprehensive agreement.