US Sanctions Threats Dismissed

A lawmaker dismissed the US threats of imposing new sanctions against Iran and Russia over their roles in the Syria conflict, noting that the recent US attack against Syria was a "clear breach of international human rights".    

"The US intention to impose new sanctions against Iran and Russia over the two countries' support for the Syrian government is more like a silly joke," Morteza Saffari Natanzi, who is also a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, was quoted as saying by ICANA on Wednesday.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley recently said US President Donald Trump "is considering implementing new sanctions against Russia and Iran" for throwing their support behind Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russia and Iran have stood by Assad in Syria's six-year-long conflict.

The United States and other western countries have backed the so-called "moderate" militants fighting the Syrian government. The two countries also defended Assad against the US allegation concerning his alleged use of chemical weapons against militants in Idlib Province last week.

The claims were followed by Trump's order on Friday to the military to carry out a barrage of missile strikes against a Syrian airbase, 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.

The use of poison gas was denied by the Syrian government. Natanzi touched upon the US airstrike on Syria and stressed that the US allegations are "not a good excuse for taking unilateral measures and conducting assaults on a country".

He further said the US is fully aware that the Syrian government had voluntarily dismantled its stockpile of chemical weapons under the supervision of UN inspectors, noting that the international community is fully aware of the same fact.

"Under the current situation, the US international dominance has come to an end and it definitely cannot weaken the two major players in Syria [Iran and Russia]," he said.

While Iran and Russia condemned both the chemical attack and the US missile strike on Syria, a group of US allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, expressed their support for the US strike.