Iran denies that Khamenei replied to Obama letter on Islamic State

By

Iran has denied a Wall Street Journal report that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently responded to a letter sent in October by U.S. President Barack Obama suggesting cooperation with Iran in fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

"There has been no new letter from Iran's side," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said, according to a report carried late on Sunday by the official IRNA news agency. "The claim made by the Wall Street Journal is an unprofessional media game."

The Journal cited an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying Khamenei's letter had been "respectful" but noncommittal.

Although enemies for decades, the United States and Iran share a strategic interest in pushing back an Islamic State advance that has threatened the survival of the Iraqi state.

In Syria, Shi'ite Muslim Iran is the main ally of President Bashar al-Assad, while Washington says he has lost legitimacy - but neither wants to see a triumph by Islamic State's radical Sunni militia, which has come to dominate the anti-Assad rebellion.

Iranian officials in November acknowledged that Tehran had replied to previous letters from Obama, though it was not clear who specifically had responded.

Iran is also in talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, with the aim of allaying concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program in return for the lifting of international sanctions. Iran denies having any nuclear weapons ambitions.

Tags
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Barack Obama, United States, Iran, Bashar al-Assad, Nuclear, Islamic state
Join the Discussion
More News
Jeffrey Epstein Donald Trump

Trump Pushes MAGA Theory on Epstein Files But It Backfires: 'Then What's Stopping You From Releasing Everything?'

Trump

Democratic Lawmaker Demands 'the Evidence About Trump' Following Pam Bondi's Plans to Release of Epstein Case Transcripts

Bondi Trump Epstein

Trump Admin is 'Ready' to 'Unseal' Another Trove of Epstein Documents, Pam Bondi Declares Following Bombshell Report

Trump vs Newsom_06092025_1

Gavin Newsom Calls Out Trump for Insisting He Never Drew a 'Picture in My Life' in Rebuke of Bombshell Epstein Report