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Iran Insists on Syria Gas Attack Probe

Iran Insists on Syria Gas Attack Probe
Iran Insists on Syria Gas Attack Probe

Iran’s foreign minister restated Tehran’s stance on the establishment of an international fact-finding mission to probe the recent chemical attack in Syria, condemning the US strike on a Syrian airbase that purportedly came in response to the gas attack.

Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed the issue on Tuesday in separate phone calls with his counterparts from Italy, Turkey and Kuwait, namely Paolo Gentiloni Silveri, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al Sabah respectively, and also UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, IRNA reported.

He had also held similar talks with EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as well as his Omani, Algerian and Syrian counterparts on Monday.

The conversations between the top officials revolved around the recent chemical assault in Syria, the US reaction and other issues of the region.

The poison attack took place on April 4 on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Governorate of Syria.  

The top Iranian diplomat criticized the US allegations and unilateral measures against Bashar Assad’s government, including the raid on the Syrian airfield.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump ordered the military to carry out a barrage of missile strikes against the Syrian airbase in response to what Washington claims was the Syrian government’s chemical assault, calling it in America’s “vital national security interest”.

Subsequently, two US warships fired about 60 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Shuayart Airbase, causing significant damage to the military installation in the east of Homs Governorate.

Syria has categorically denied carrying out the gas attack, with the foreign minister stressing that an Idlib airstrike had targeted a depot, where terrorists stored chemical weapons.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday denounced the US raid as “flagrant aggression on Syria” and called for an impartial investigation into the chemical assault.

However, a group of US allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, expressed their support for the US strike.

 

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