US military on same side as al-Qaeda, Daesh in Yemen, Syria: Iran FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has censured the recent US airstrikes against Syria, saying the United States is fighting on the same side as al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria.

“As the only recent victim of mass use of chemical weapons (by [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam [Hossein] in the ’80s, Iran condemns use of all WMD (weapons of mass destruction) by anyone against anyone,” Zarif said in a post on his Twitter account on Friday.

He emphasized that Washington helped Saddam in its chemical weapons attack against Iran, but the US has twice in the current millennium used “bogus” chemical weapons allegations to use military force, including in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the current strikes against Syria.

The top Iranian diplomat added that it is high time to stop “hype and cover-ups.”

Dozens of people were killed in a chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday.

The United States and its allies were quick to accuse the Syrian government forces of carrying out the attack. The Syrian army said, however, that “it has never used them (chemical weapons), anytime, anywhere, and will not do so in the future.”

US warships deployed to the Mediterranean carried out an airstrike on an army airbase near Homs by firing some 60 Tomahawk missiles at the Shayrat airfield southeast of Homs early Friday.

US military attack cover for supporting terrorists

Meanwhile, during the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran, a senior Iranian cleric said the US carried out the military attack on Syria as a cover to support terrorists.

Addressing Western powers, particularly the US, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani said, “You have founded and nurtured terrorists and Israel and are now falsely claiming the Syrian government has used chemical weapons.”