Iran Joins Russia in Denouncing U.S. Strike on Syria, but Stops There<br />Trump abandoned that they had a clear — and desperate — motive to use them, given that the tragedy in Khan Sheikhoun took place only day<br />By THOMAS ERDBRINKAPRIL 10, 2017<br />TEHRAN — The punitive American missile strike on Syria for the chemical weapons attack a week ago brought Syria’s most important backers, Russia<br />and Iran, publicly closer together — whether the Iranians want to be or not.<br />And like Russia, they suggested that terrorist groups — as they call Mr. Assad’s opponents<br />— had used chemical weapons on their own people to provoke a strike by the United States.<br />But Iranian political analysts knowledgeable about government thinking are also interpreting the missile strike as<br />only a symbolic show of force by Mr. Trump, who often portrayed President Barack Obama as indecisive on Syria.<br />Iranian political analysts say there has been no sign<br />that Iran is prepared to take one key step on Syria: granting Russia’s air force full access to Iranian air bases.<br />It is impossible to know what Iranian leaders really think about who was responsible for the deadly chemical weapons assault last<br />Tuesday in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, which the United States says was carried out by Syrian warplanes.<br />Acting on Mr. Trump’s orders, American warships launched Tomahawk missiles<br />that struck the Al Shayrat airfield, where the warplanes were based — the first direct attack on Mr. Assad’s forces by the United States since the war began.
