US allegations of coming chemical attack in Syria rejected
Iran’s foreign minister denounced as a “dangerous escalation” the White House allegations that Syria is preparing a new chemical weapons attack.
Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his twitter account on Tuesday that the warning is based on a “fake pretext” and added that it “will only serve ISIS (Daesh), precisely when it’s being wiped out by Iraqi & Syrian people,” AP reported.
Zarif’s remarks follow Monday’s White House warning that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his military would “pay a heavy price” if they go ahead with the attack.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and Russia also dismissed White House the US chemical allegations.
Ali Haidar, the Syrian minister for national reconciliation, dismissed a White House statement Monday that warned Assad’s government against carrying out another chemical attack. Haidar told AP the charges foreshadowed a new diplomatic campaign against Syria at the UN.
The Kremlin also rejected the White House statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such threats to Syria’s legitimate leaders are unacceptable.”
Russia is Assad’s key backer and sided with him when he denied responsibility for a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Idlib province on April 4. Days later, US President Donald Trump ordered a retaliatory cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base.
Peskov criticized the Trump administration for using the phrase “another chemical weapons attack,” arguing that an independent investigation into the April attack was never conducted despite Russia’s calls for one.
The statement by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the US had “identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack” by the Assad government. He said the activities were similar to preparations taken before the attack in April, but provided no evidence or further explanation.
A senior Russian lawmaker dismissed the US warning as “provocation.”
Frants Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, accused the United States of “preparing a new attack on the positions of Syrian forces.” The US strike in April was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president.
Syria denied using chemical weapons. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a militant chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory.