Iran Condemns US Retaliatory Strikes in Iraq, Syria

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has strongly condemned US strikes in Iraq and Syria overnight on February 2-3 as a violation of international law.

The attacks also violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, said Kanaani on Saturday, and called the US strikes as an “adventurous action” and a “strategic mistake.”

According to the official, the US military operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen serve Israel’s goals and will only result in increased tension and instability in the region.

On Friday night, the United States hit about 85 targets linked to IRGC Quds Force and affiliated militia groups in Iraq and Syria.

The strikes were carried out in response to an attack on January 28 by Iran-backed militants against a US base in Jordan which claimed the lives of three American soldiers and left more than 40 injured.

Though Iran has avoided any direct military involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the regime has used its proxy groups such as Houthis and Hezbollah to attack Israeli and American targets in the region.

Meanwhile, Syria and Iraq also condemned the US overnight attacks.

“What (the US) committed has served to fuel conflict in the Middle East in a very dangerous way,” read the statement issued by the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office also dismissed the offensives as a “new aggression against Iraq's sovereignty.”

The US-led coalition in the region “has become a reason for threatening security and stability in Iraq and a justification for involving Iraq in regional and international conflicts,” the office added.

According to Baghdad, the US attacks in Iraq killed 16 people, including civilians, and injured 25.

White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby stated that Washington had notified Baghdad prior to the attacks. Iraq has called Kirby’s assertion “a lie.”