TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that “terrorists” were applauding his US counterpart Donald Trump for launching a missile strike on an airbase of his Syrian government ally.
But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria on Tuesday that Trump blamed on the Damascus regime.
“This man who is now in office in America claimed that he wanted to fight terrorism but today all terrorists in Syria are celebrating the US attack,” Rouhani said in a speech aired by state television.
“Why have you attacked the Syrian army which is at war with terrorists? Under what law or authority did you launch your missiles at this independent country?“
Iran and Russia are the closest allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
They have provided him with military support not only against jihadists like the Daesh group and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh Al-Sham Front that are targeted by a US-led coalition but also against other rebels they deem “terrorists” too.
Both governments have defended their Damascus ally against Western allegations that it carried out a chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun on Tuesday, killing dozens of civilians.
Rouhani called for “an independent commission” by “impartial countries” into the claims.
“According to the United Nations, the Syrian government does not possess chemical weapons,” he said.
Rouhani was referring to the UN-supervised destruction of the Damascus regime’s chemical arsenal under a 2013 agreement between Washington and Moscow.
On Friday, hours after the US missile strike, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Western allegations were “bogus.”
He likened them to the claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction which premised the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 but which later turned out to be baseless.
Iran’s Rouhani says Trump abetting Syria ‘terrorists’
Iran’s Rouhani says Trump abetting Syria ‘terrorists’
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
