Iran denies that Khamenei replied to Obama letter on Daesh

ANKARA — Iran has denied a Wall Street Journal report that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently responded to a letter sent in October by US President Barack Obama suggesting cooperation with Iran in fighting Daesh 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 Daesh advance that has threatened the survival of the Iraqi state.

In Syria, Shiite Muslim Iran is the main ally of President Bashar Assad, while Washington says he has lost legitimacy — but neither wants to see a triumph by Daesh’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.