The United States is not engaged in military coordination with Iran over combating the Islamic State militants, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Friday.
Asked about President Barack Obama's letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which the president reportedly expressed a "shared interest" in fighting the extremist group also known as ISIL, Rice replied that "We are in no way engaged in any coordination, military coordination with Iran on countering ISIL."
She also denied any linkage between the ongoing efforts to seek a comprehensive deal over Iran's nuclear program and the campaign against the Islamic State.
"We have never made that linkage, so the reports that suggest the contrary are inaccurate," she told reporters at the White House.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed on the matter, reported on Thursday that in his letter sent to Khamenei in the middle of last month, Obama stressed that "any cooperation on Islamic State was largely contingent on Iran reaching a comprehensive agreement with global powers on the future of Tehran 's nuclear program by a Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline."
Foreign ministers of the U.S., the European Union and Iran are scheduled to meet in Muscat, Oman's capital, on Nov. 9-10, as Tehran and the so-called P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany are set to resume talks on Nov. 18 in the Austrian capital of Vienna to push for a final deal by the cut-off date.
As Washington is leading airstrikes on the Islamic State targets inside Iraq and Syria, Tehran is also offering support to the Iraqi government.