Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday condemned the US-led missile attacks on Syria, saying the "criminal act” would yield no results.
"I declare that the president of the United States, the president of France and the British prime minister are criminals," the Leader said in a meeting with senior government officials and ambassadors from Muslim countries, his official website reported.
US, British and French forces attacked the war-ravaged Arab country with more than 100 missiles late on Friday in the first coordinated western strikes, Reuters reported.
They targeted what they claimed were chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a alleged chlorine gas attack that the West claimed had been carried out by forces of President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow and Damascus strongly denounced the bombing.
Syria, a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, denies it possesses chemical weapons and has branded the use of such arms "immoral and unacceptable".
Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the destructive role of western powers in the volatile region, saying, "The US president stated a while ago that they spent $7 trillion in West Asia and gained nothing. He is right, and, going forward, the United States will not achieve anything in the region no matter how hard it tries and how much it spends."
In February, Donald Trump tweeted, "After so stupidly spending $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is now time to start investing in our Country."
The Leader noted that the Americans will leave behind the same legacy in Syria that they left in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling on Muslim nations to confront the pattern of US aggressions.
*** Regional Fallout
The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said on Saturday that Washington and its allies will be held accountable for military intervention in the war-ravaged Arab country.
“Undoubtedly, the United States and its allies, which took military action against Syria despite the absence of any verified evidence…will be responsible for the consequences of this adventurism in the region and beyond," the ministry said in a statement carried by IRNA.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is opposed to the use of chemical weapons on religious, legal and ethical grounds, while at the same time considers using it as a pretext to commit aggression against a sovereign state 'unacceptable' and strongly condemns it," it added.
*** Naked Aggression
Hossein Dehqan, the Leader's advisor on defense affairs, called the attacks a "blatant act of aggression".
"The Syrian people will definitely respond to these attacks, and the world should condemn this aggression," he told the Fars News Agency on Saturday.
A senior official with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps also criticized the three attacking western powers, saying the fallout from the attacks will be at Washington’s expense.
"With this attack, the status quo will not change but rather the situation will become more complicated, and a complicated situation will certainly not be in the US interest. The United States will be responsible for what comes after these regional events," Yadollah Javani, IRGC’s deputy commander for political affairs, told Fars on Saturday.
*** Violation of Int'l Law
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Relations Commission, said the strikes were "in clear violation of international law".
"The US and the Zionist regime will not be able to undermine the resistance front with such childish acts," he said in reference to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the US, ICANA reported on Saturday.
The attacks have been carried out by three permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, he said. "It is a matter of regret that those who claim to promote security in the world are themselves endangering security and creating crisis."
He said, "If the Americans want to continue this game, they will see reactions that will surely be to the detriment of regional security."
