US should never have been in Syria in the first place, says Iran
A foreign ministry spokesperson says US presence in Syria had been 'wrong and illogical' all along.
Ali Akbar Velayati, chief foreign policy advisor to Iran's supreme leader, is seen during a visit to Aleppo in northern Syria on November 7, 2017
Iran said Saturday the US presence in Syria had been “wrong and illogical” from the start, in its first official reaction to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops.
“The presence of American forces was from the very start, in principle, a wrong and illogical move and a primary cause of instability and insecurity in the region,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on his Telegram channel.
Trump vowed Thursday that the United States would no longer be the “policeman of the Middle East” as he ordered troops back from Syria.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have a contingent of commanders and advisers deployed in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, and have ferried weapons and thousands of militia fighters to the frontlines from various countries.
The United States currently has around 2,000 forces deployed in Syria in two areas along the Iraqi border that was partly aimed at keeping Iranian forces in check.
Trump vowed earlier this week that the United States would no longer be the “policeman of the Middle East” as he ordered troops back from Syria, delighting Russian President Vladimir Putin as US allies voiced unease.
Doubling down on his surprise declaration by Twitter of victory over the Islamic State group a day earlier, the US leader both boasted of commanding the world’s most powerful military and said that others should lead the fighting.
“Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight,” he tweeted.
The real estate mogul turned president, returning to his pre-White House isolationism, on Wednesday ordered the pullout of the 2,000 US troops in a decision that caught off-guard US allies, the Pentagon and members of Congress, several of whom attempted to persuade Trump to reconsider.
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