Westerners Attacked Syria under False Pretext of Chemical Weapons: Iran’s Larijani

Speaking at a meeting with Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in Hanoi on Monday, Larijani pointed to the Saturday’s missile attack by the US, the UK, and France and said he westerners raised the issue of chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, which was not true.

If the Westerners’ allegation was true, the UN mission should have been given the opportunity to examine this issue, the Iranian parliament speaker added.

Recent move by the US and its allies to bomb Syria demonstrated that they are not after tranquility in the Arab country, he noted.

The Vietnamese official, for her part, expressed deep concern over the US-led attacks and said her country is opposed to any measure taken against the innocent people of Syria.

The United States and European allies launched airstrikes on Saturday against Syrian research, storage and military targets under the pretext of a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation that was intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law.

Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Assad to “stop using banned weapons”, but only ordered a limited, one-night operation that hit three targets.

“These are not the actions of a man,” Trump said of last weekend’s attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. “They are crimes of a monster instead.”

Shortly after the attack, the Syrian presidency posted on Twitter, “Honorable souls cannot be humiliated.”

Within 90 minutes, the Russian ambassador to the US warned of “consequences” for the allied attacks.