US strike on Syria strengthens regional terrorism: President Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani has censured the US for a recent missile strikes on a airbase in Syria, saying the aggression will boost terrorism in the region and strengthen lawlessness and instability in the world.

“I call on the world to reject such policies, which bring only destruction and danger to the region and the globe,” President Rouhani said in a post on his Twitter account on Friday night, Press TV reported.

President’s comments came after the US military pounded the Shayrat airfield southeast of Homs with 59 Tomahawk missiles in the early hours of Friday, marking the Pentagon's first direct attack against the Arab country since the beginning of the foreign-sponsored conflict in 2011.

“US aggression against Shayrat strengthens regional extremism and terror, and global lawlessness and instability, and must be condemned,” President Rouhani further said.

“The tragedy of Khan Shaykhoun is horrifying & must be condemned. It reminds Iranians, victim of chemical weapons for years, [of] the attacks in Sardasht,” President Rouhani added, referring to a tragic chemical bombing of the northwestern Iranian city of Sardasht by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein back in 1987, during the Iraqi-imposed war on Iran. The chemical attack killed over 100 Iranian civilians and injured hundreds of others.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said Washington had made the decision to strike Syria before the alleged chemical attack in Idlib.

SS