John Kerry insists that Iran is not driving Obama's reluctance to use ground troops against Islamic State

Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Wednesday that the Obama administration's aversion to sending U.S. ground troops to fight the Islamic State is not an attempt to keep Iran happy in the context of the ongoing nuclear talks.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) argued at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that he believes the U.S. strategy for fighting the Islamic State is being partially dictated by Iran, which generally does not want to see more ground troops in the Middle East. Rubio charged that as a result, the administration has decided against ground troops in order to placate Iran and keep the nuclear talks from collapsing.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. reluctance to use ground troops is not due to opposition from Iran. Image: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

"I believe that much of our strategy with regards to ISIS is being driven by a desire not to upset Iran so that they don't walk away from the negotiating table on the deal that you're working on," Rubio said. "Tell me why I'm wrong."

But Kerry said Iran is also an enemy of the Islamic State, and probably doesn't mind the U.S. fighting the terrorist group.

"They would welcome our bombing," Kerry said of Iran. "They want us to destroy ISIS, they want to destroy ISIS. ISIS is a threat to them, it's a threat to the region."

"And I think you're misreading it if you think there isn't a mutual interest," he added.

Rubio pressed further by asking whether that means Iran would welcome more U.S. troops in and around Iraq.

"They're not going to come out and openly support it, and they obviously would be nervous about it," Kerry answered. "But they're not going to object if that's what it is."

Kerry also stressed that the U.S. is not engaging in any other negotiation with Iran, and instead is focusing only on trying to curb or eliminate Iran's nuclear program.

"There is no grand bargain being discussed here in the context of this negotiation," he said. "This is about a nuclear weapon potential, that's it."

The administration's negotiation with Iran has come under heavy criticism from Republicans and even many Democrats who believe the talks are giving Iran more time to develop its nuclear weapons program. At the same time, many Republicans have said the administration's campaign against the Islamic State is not working, and some, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), say it's time to bring in ground forces.