Iran has renewed its support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and, while President Hassan Rouhani of Iran has condemned the attack, he has indirectly sent a message to Syria that could propel it to take action against America.
Hassan Rouhani has also voiced his disapproval of sanctions that the United States has imposed on Iran because, immediately after taking over, Donald Trump had imposed fresh sanctions on Iran to target its ballistic missile program.
Reactions of Hassan Rouhani
New Zealand Herald reports that, in the words of Hassan Rouhani, actions of the United States were not in sync with international frameworks.
He wants Bashar al-Assad to give a fitting reply so that America would regret the attack. In his opinion, America is suffering from a superiority complex and nurses an impression that it is the leader of the world.
Russia and Iran are allies of Syria and have reaffirmed that the missile strike by the United States was a violation of the sovereignty of Syria and, in the eyes of the government, whoever fights against it are terrorists. Hezbollah also voiced approval, condemned the American strike and added that it would respond with force to future attacks of this nature.
The views of Washington
Washington has broadened its warning to Bashar al-Assad, and White House spokesman Sean Spicer has reiterated that if Syria goes in for chemical weapons to kill babies or drops a barrel bomb onto innocent people, Americans will not remain mute spectators.
The missile attack was launched in retaliation for the chemical attack on civilians in Syria.
The comments of Hassan Rouhani appear to have ignored a warning from the White House that, if Syria continues to use chemical weapons or barrel bombs, it could invite retaliatory action by the U.S. military. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has confirmed that the missile strike had inflicted damages on a Syrian air base and had resulted in damages or destruction of 20 per cent of operational aircraft.
Other assets that took a beating were the fuel and ammunition sites apart from air defense capabilities.
It is obvious that the action taken by Donald Trump to order the missile strike has come as a surprise to the team of Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani, and Bashar al-Assad and they are trying to work out some face-saving measures. They know in their heart of hearts that the fault lies with their setups which need to be rectified but, they are reluctant to admit that.
