The United States says it is assembling a broad and international coalition to “degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.”

“The coalition required to eliminate ISIL is not only, or even primarily, military in nature,” Kerry said on Friday at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Iraq. “It must be comprehensive and include close collaboration across multiple lines of effort.”

“There is a role for nearly every country in the world to play, including Iran,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the US State Department said that American and Iranian officials held discussions on the issue on the sidelines of the nuclear talks.

On Monday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Washington only established the US-led coalition against ISIL in order to attempt to expand its military presence in the Middle East region.

In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the coalition against the ISIL terrorists “ridiculous”, saying the coalition members include those who provided ISIL with weapons and training.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. ISIL sent its fighters into Iraq in June, quickly seizing vast expanse of land straddling the border between the two countries.

Tehran has repeatedly expressed support for the Iraqi government in its campaign against the Takfiri militants and was the first country to provide military assistance to Iraqi Kurdish forces fighting ISIL.

Zarif made the remarks during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday.

He said the states that took part in a Paris conference on the US-led coalition against the ISIL earlier this week, had supported the Takfiris in the past.

“We do not support foreign military involvement in the region,” Zarif said, adding, “As a principle, we don’t believe that injection of foreign forces – either air or ground – solves our problem.”

The Iranian foreign minister noted that Iran was the first country to take measures to help Iraq in the face of the Takfiri threat.

He called for a Syrian-led solution to the crisis in Iraq’s neighboring country.

The Takfiri terrorists currently control parts of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Izadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.

Zarif also commented about Iran’s nuclear energy program, slamming the United States for its obsession with sanctions against Tehran.

Iran has lived up to its obligations regarding the nuclear program and is determined to resolve the issue, he stated.

Last November, Tehran and the six countries signed an interim deal in Geneva, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. In July, Iran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 this year after they failed to reach common ground on a number of key issues.

Iran has planned bilateral meetings with the six major world powers on Tehran’s nuclear energy program. Zarif said earlier that the meetings would take place before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives in New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly.