Iran’s Defense Minister: Claims on Iran’s Military Involvement in Syria to Justify Defeat

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said that Western allegations about Iranian forces fighting in Syria ”are aimed to justify their defeats and distract attention in the region and the world away from Syria’s victory in the war against terrorism.”

Commenting on reports claiming the involvement of Iranian forces in Syria, Vahidi said in a statement that ”Iran has not sent military forces to Syria, and will not send any,” indicating that ”had it not been for Iran’s good offices and peaceful policies, the countries backing terrorism would have drowned Syria in a sea of blood.”

He added that Iran does not believe in sending forces to Syria, affirming that these allegations are made to justify the enemies’ defeats and distract the public opinion in the region and the world away from Syria’s victory.

He indicated that the countries which turned the region into a battlefield and a hotbed of instability through committing crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and backing the Israeli war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon seek to prolong and escalate violence in the Middle East.

Vahidi affirmed that the support of some countries to terrorists is unjustified, adding that the West, especially the US, seeks to inflame wars and stoke regional conflicts.

Vahidi said that the West wants to destroy Syria’s infrastructure to ”keep the Syrian people and government under its thumb for years to come, and to breathe new life in their troubled economy.”