TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who is visiting Brazil told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. is seeking a pretext to take military action against the Syrian government.

The comments by the Zarif came after President Trump said on Monday that the United States would take swift action in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus. 

The Syrian government issued a statement late on Saturday strongly rejecting the claim that it has used chemical weapons.

Commenting on an accusation by the U.S. that Iran is an accomplice in the chemical attack, Zarif said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has a clear position against chemical weapons and condemns use of them.”

The Trump administration said that Syria and its Russian and Iranian partners bear direct responsibility for the suspected attack.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN representative, told the UN Security Council that images of the dead in Syria were staged and “fake news.”

Nebenzia accused Washington of employing slander, hawkish rhetoric and blackmail beyond what was practiced during the Cold War.

“Do you understand the dangerous threshold to which you are bringing the world?” he asked, according to the Washington Post.

Both the Russian and Syrian envoys promised to cooperate with investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons if they travel to Syria to take samples and talk to victims.

Bashar Jaafari, the Syrian ambassador, predicted they would find no evidence that chemical weapons were used.

“Syria does not possess chemical weapons of any kind,” he said. “We condemn their use, at any time and under any circumstances.”

‘U.S. transferring Daesh to other places’

Zarif also said that the U.S. is transferring Daesh terrorists to other regions to use them somewhere else.

“Such policies and the consequences of them will be dangerous for international peace and security and for the U.S. itself,” Iran’s chief diplomat predicted.

NA/PA