UPDATE 1730 GMT: US Secretary of State John Kerry has insisted that contacts with Iran over the Iraqi crisis will continue, despite the rejection by the Supreme Leader.

Kerry said talks on both Iraq and Syria could take place on the sidelines of nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers, which resume in New York on Thursday: “Having a channel of communication on one of the biggest issues in the world today is common sense.”

At the same time, Kerry defended his exclusion of Iran from Monday’s international conference on Iraq, claiming both King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and top officials from the United Arab Emirates said they would not attend if the Iranians were present.

Kerry said this “doesn’t mean that we are opposed to the idea of communicating to find out if they will come on board or under what circumstances or whether there is the possibility of a change”, although he again ruled military cooperation with Tehran in the fight against the Islamic State.

UPDATE 1230 GMT: The US State Department responds to the Supreme Leader’s statement that he rejected cooperation with Washington over Iraq and the Islamic State:

As soon as he left hospital on Monday after a week’s stay for a prostate operation, the Supreme Leader rejoined the Iranian regime’s assault on the US over its intervention in Iraq.

Ayatollah Khamenei claimed on State TV and in social media that he had personally rejected an American approach for cooperation against the Islamic State, and that the Iranian Government had done the same:

Soon after the Islamic State’s rapid gains in northern Iraq in June, taking the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, the Rouhani Government put out feelers for action with the US, but the efforts was quickly overruled by others in the regime, apparently following the lead of Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Supreme Leader reinforced the message to Ministers today, “Some officials did not disagree with discussing cooperation with the US (on ISIS), but I disagreed.”

Since June, senior Iranian officials have lashed out at the US involvement in Iraq, particularly after American airstrikes began August 8 — to the point of claiming that Washington created the Islamic State.

The Supreme Leader’s statements this morning renew the criticisms:

The Supreme Leader concluded with the jab, “While I was in the hospital, I had a hobby and it was to listen to US officials’ remarks about the attack on the Islamic State.”