Iran leader calls US Syria strike a ‘strategic mistake’

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States made a “strategic mistake” by attacking Syria, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

The onslaught of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on the regime-held Shayrat Airfield, north of the Syrian capital Damascus, followed a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Syria that killed 87 civilians, including many children, footage of which prompted outrage across the globe.

Tehran has been a key backer of President Bashar Assad in Syria’s six-year civil war, referring to all rebel groups in the country as “terrorists.”

“The United States made a strategic mistake,” Khamenei said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave the field (…) in the face of threats,” he said, alluding to suspicions that the United States intended the attack as a sign it was willing to attack other countries including Iran.

“Former American officials created Daesh and the current leaders are reinforcing it,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State terror group.

Also on Sunday, a command center jointly operated by Russia, Iran and other groups supporting the Syrian regime issued a statement condemning the US missile strike and threatening to respond if such attacks continue.

“What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines,” the center said in a statement carried by the Syrian government’s War Information Center, known as Elam al-Harbi, according to Reuters.

“From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well,” the operations center statement said.

Russia and Iran are the two strongest backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, providing extensive military support in order to help prop up the Syrian regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani by phone on Sunday, during which they agreed that the US strike was a violation of international law.

“We denounce the US missile strike on Syria and regard it as a flagrant violation of an independent country’s sovereignty (and) a measure that needs to be addressed and condemned in the UN Security Council,” Rouhani said, according to Iranian media.

Both Russia and Iran previously condemned the US missile strike.

Following the strikes on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped the US response would also “resonate” in Iran.

Israel “hopes that this message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere,” Netanyahu said.