FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a gathering in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2020. Official Khamenei website/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Sunday for increased cooperation among countries in the region to deal with problems he blamed on the United States, his official website said.

“The situation in the region is inappropriate because of ... the United States and its friends, and the only way to deal with it is to rely on inter-regional cooperation,” Ayatollah Khamenei told Qatar’s visiting ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the website reported.