Washington. August 25. INTERFAX - The US Air Force strikes on targets in Syria, which are allegedly linked to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), are not related to negotiations to restore the agreement on the Iranian atom, said US Deputy Defense Minister Colin Kohl.
"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 and Iranian-backed aggression when it occurs."
As the Central Command of the US Armed Forces reported yesterday, the US Air Force, on the instructions of President Joe Biden, struck targets in Syria that are allegedly linked to the IRGC in the province of Deir ez-Zor.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that shortly after that, two US military bases in northeastern Syria, located near large oil and gas fields, were subjected to rocket fire.
NBC reported, citing government sources, that as a result, "an unknown number of US servicemen were injured," data on their exact number "is still being received." The US responded with helicopter strikes, "destroying at least three vehicles and several people believed to have been responsible for the missile launches."
Kohl noted that the US strikes emphasize that although Washington continues negotiations with Iran on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), this does not mean that America will not take retaliatory measures in the event of an attack.
"The threats they pose to our people in the region or elsewhere are not related to whether we will eventually conclude 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 these things are going their separate ways," the US official said.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied US statements that the groups in Syria, which were hit by airstrikes by the US military, are related to Tehran, the Mehr news agency reports.
"The representative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanani, called the new US aggression a terrorist act against the people's forces and fighters against occupation, rejected 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 resumed anti-Iranian sanctions, including against the oil sector, which prompted Tehran to gradually abandon compliance with some of the terms of the deal. The current US President Joe Biden declared his readiness to return to the deal under certain conditions.
Iran, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, France and Russia held several rounds of talks in Vienna with the aim of restoring the JCPOA. The United States is not directly involved in them.
Negotiations were interrupted in March and resumed in August.
