TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday U.S. intervention in Syria would be "a disaster for the region" as Western powers made plans to hit Damascus over a suspicious chemical weapons attack.
"Starting this fire will be like a spark in a large store of gunpowder, with unclear and unspecified outcomes and consequences," Ayatollah Khamenei told Iranian Cabinet members.
"The U.S. threats and possible intervention in Syria is a disaster for the region and if such an act is done, certainly, the Americans will sustain damage like when they interfered in Iraq and Afghanistan."
President Hassan Rouhani, also speaking to the Cabinet, said people in the Middle East and the world won't accept "a new war" and deplored threats to use force.
"Any adventurism in the region will pose irreparable dangers to the stability of the region and the world and will merely lead to the spread of extremism and terrorism in the region," Rouhani said.
He called on the UN inspectors to carry out unbiased investigations to identify the culprits behind the chemical weapons use in Syria, and said, "Each and every measure should be taken with respect to the sensitive situation of the region, rapid ending of the internal crisis, and prevention of extremism in the region and in the framework of the international rules and regulations."
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif likened a possible attack to a return to "the Middle Ages".
The top Iranian diplomat argued that any adventurism in Syria will ignite tension in the entire Middle East, adding, “If the crisis flares up, it cannot be confined to one region.”
The United States has deployed warships off the coast of Syria, and Western powers say a strike on Syria could be imminent after reports of a chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds.
Along with Iran, Russia has criticized the idea of a strike in Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there's no proof yet Syria's government is behind last week's chemical attack. Russia accused Washington of trying to "create artificial groundless excuses for military intervention".
"The West handles the Islamic world the way a monkey handles a grenade," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Twitter.
Iranian officials have condemned the use of chemical weapons - deployed against its troops during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war - but have blamed Syrian insurgents for the August 21 poison gas attack that killed hundreds in the embattled suburbs of Damascus.
"As a victim of chemical weapons the Islamic Republic of Iran does not tolerate the use of such weapons. In addition, it also does not tolerate a group of countries giving themselves the permission to wage a campaign in the region," Zarif told state television.
"This fire of sectarianism, tribal conflicts, and conflicts that ... are exacerbated for short-term interests cannot be restricted to one region. "If (Obama) gets stuck in this trap which has been set by Zionist pressure groups, he will certainly leave behind bad memories of his presidency."
Iran's Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani warned the U.S., the West and the Israeli regime of the repercussions of a possible strike on Syria.
“You may be able to launch an operation against Syria with the help of certain regional countries ... but you won’t be the ones that will continue it,” Larijani warned.
He said, "The hegemonic powers and the Zionist regime were beating the drum of war even before the UN team in Syria launched its probe to determine who was behind the latest chemical attack in the country."
He warned Israel against any “act of sedition” in Syria, saying Tel Aviv would pay an even higher price than that of its 33-day aggression against Lebanon if it engaged in a war.
