By Ben Kesling, James Marson and Gordon Lubold

The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump is open to cooperating with Russia on combating the Islamic State extremist group, if Russia shares U.S. interests in doing so, but didn’t outline plans or a process for establishing joint military ventures or strikes.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, opened the door to possible cooperation during a news conference. “I think if there’s a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it’s Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we’ll take it,” he said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

The comment came on the same day Russia had claimed in a statement from Moscow that it had received U.S. intelligence information in conducting airstrikes with unidentified members of the U.S.-led coalition. The Pentagon, however, said it had not aided or cooperated with Russia.

The Russian defense ministry said that on Jan. 22, Russia’s air force had carried out strikes on ISIS near al-Bab with warplanes from the U.S.-led international coalition. The ministry said it received the coordinates of Islamic State targets from the U.S. over a hotline. Two Russian warplanes and two coalition aircraft carried out strikes that destroyed ammunition stores, vehicles and militants, the ministry said, without saying which coalition partner the aircraft were from.

U.S. officials said the U.S. and Russia have procedures in place to coordinate the use of airspace and prevent mishaps, but none for airstrikes or intelligence.

“We do not coordinate military strikes with the Russian military at all,” said Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman. “There is no exchange of targets.”

Russian’s military also said it carried out joint strikes on Islamic State near al-Bab in Aleppo province on Jan. 21 with the Turkish air force in which three Russian warplanes and four Turkish aircraft knocked out 22 targets.

However, U.S. officials said that any coordination between Russian and Turkish military officials in Syria wouldn’t have used American intelligence. “That’s not possible,” said one official.

Senior officers at the Pentagon have discussed elevating the routine exchanges between U.S. and Russian military officers from a colonels’ level to a three-star general officer level. But that initiative isn’t yet a formal proposal, said Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said.

Gen. Dunford said there have been some “conversations” on the issue, but nothing more. He also said that the primary U.S. interest is to make sure Americans can be protected on the ground and a “proper framework” exists to accomplish U.S. objectives there.

A senior military official said there had been no movement on the idea as of yet. Defense Secretary James Mattis’ first full working day was Monday.

U.S. military officials long have questioned Moscow’s interest in countering Islamic State, noting that most airstrikes are aimed at civilians and moderate rebels who oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. Spicer’s comments on U.S.-Russian cooperation Monday were consistent with what President Donald Trump has said in the past, when he has identified the job of combating Islamic State as a top national security priority.

When asked about the possibility of working with Mr. Assad, Mr. Spicer wouldn’t close the door to cooperation. “We are going to smartly do this,” he said, then added, “We’re not gonna get together with people under guise of defeating ISIS if that’s not truly their guise.”