Iran’s first official reaction to Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria

Tabnak – In its first reaction to the US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull American forces out of Syria, the Islamic Republic took a general position, rather than going into the details, calling the US presence in the region illogical from the beginning.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi reacted to a recent decision by the US administration to withdraw its forces from Syria, saying that the deployment of American troops to the Middle East region was an irrational and provocative move from the very beginning.

“In principle, the deployment and presence of US forces in the region from the outset was a wrong, irrational and provocative move that created tensions. It (deployment) is always a major cause of instability and insecurity in the region,” Qassemi told reporters on Saturday.

“A detailed study of the history of the region's developments from the past decades to the present day has also shown that the presence of an external element under various excuses in this sensitive and important region has had no result other than tension and insecurity, and the escalation of disputes,” the spokesman noted.

In a reversal from previously stated US policy, President Trump on Wednesday ordered a “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of US troops from Syria as he vowed the United States would no longer be the "policeman of the Middle East".

On Friday, the US president was reported to have ordered the start of withdrawing some 7,000 troops from Afghanistan, about half of the total number of American boots on the ground in the war-torn country.

In another related development, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Trump’s decision on Syria, temporarily postponing a planned invasion of Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northeastern regions. Erdogan announced the decision speaking at a rally in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Friday.

"We had decided last week to launch a military incursion in the east of the Euphrates River... Our phone call with President Trump, along with contacts between our diplomats and security officials and statements by the United States, has led us to wait a little longer," said Erdogan.

The Turkish president, however, stressed that the delay was not an “open-ended waiting period.”

"We have postponed our military operation against the east of the Euphrates river until we see on the ground the result of America's decision to withdraw from Syria,” said Erdogan, signaling that a Turkish operation will begin once US troops have left the region.

Meanwhile, a French official says his country has pledged backing for the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed anti-Damascus alliance of mainly Kurdish militants.

The Elysee Palace official said that advisers to French President Emmanuel Macron had assured SDF of their support in a meeting with the group's figures, including co-chairs Ilham Ahmed and Riad Darrar, in Paris on Friday.

“The advisers passed on a message of support and solidarity and explained to them the talks France had with US authorities to continue the fight against Daesh," the official added.

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The strikes have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

Syria has on several occasions written to the UN, complaining that the US was flagrantly violating its sovereignty. The US supports militants fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and has repeatedly attacked Syrian army positions.