Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran turned the U.S. down on ISIS first

Iran&#039;s Ayatollah Khamenei says Iran turned the U.S. down on ISIS first — (Image credit: iStock)

President Obama and other U.S. officials have only excluded two countries from directly participating in America's ISIS-battling coalition: Syria, whose president, Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. wants out of power; and Iran, which is trying to leverage its participation to ease U.S. nuclear sanctions, according to U.S. officials.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei begs to differ. On Monday, Khamenei said that Secretary of State John Kerry had personally asked Iran's foreign minister to help fight ISIS, and "I said no, because they have dirty hands." Another U.S. military campaign in the region would end "in the same problems they faced in Iraq in the past 10 years," Khamenei added.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.