Greater Middle East (bbabo.net), - U.S. Air Force strikes on facilities in Syria allegedly linked to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are not related to negotiations to restore the Iranian atom agreement, said US Deputy Secretary of Defense Colin Cole.
"The US airstrikes in eastern Syria were a message to Iran and the Tehran-backed militias that have attacked US troops this month and several times over the past year," he told reporters on Wednesday.
He added that it was a demonstration that "the United States will not hesitate to defend itself against Iranian-backed aggression when it occurs."
As the US Central Command reported yesterday, the US Air Force, at the direction of President Joe Biden, attacked targets in Syria that are allegedly associated with the IRGC in the province of Deir ez-Zor.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that shortly thereafter, two US military bases in northeast Syria, located near large oil and gas fields, were subjected to rocket fire.
NBC reported, citing government sources, that "an unknown number of U.S. troops were injured" as a result, and the exact numbers are "still coming in." The US responded with helicopter strikes, "destroying at least three vehicles and several people believed to be responsible for the missile launches."
Kohl noted that the US strikes underscore that while Washington continues to negotiate with Iran to reactivate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), this does not mean that America will not retaliate if attacked.
“The threats they pose to our people in the region or elsewhere have nothing to do with whether we end up making a nuclear deal. In fact, it has nothing to do with our willingness and determination to defend ourselves. And, I think the strikes were a pretty clear signal to the Iranians that all of these things are going their separate ways,” the US official said.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday refuted US claims that groups in Syria that were hit by US military airstrikes are related to Tehran, the Mehr news agency reported.
"Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani called the new US aggression a terrorist act against the people's forces and fighters against the occupation, denied any connection of the persons who were attacked with Iran," the agency notes.
The previous President of the United States, Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in 2018 and reimposed anti-Iranian sanctions, including on the oil sector, prompting Tehran to phase out some of the terms of the deal. The current President of the United States, Joe Biden, has declared his readiness to return to the deal under certain conditions.
Iran, the UK, Germany, China, France and Russia have held several rounds of talks in Vienna to restore the JCPOA. The United States does not directly participate in them.
Negotiations were interrupted in March and resumed in August.
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