UN: Russia on Monday accused President Joe Biden of carrying out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to boost his image as the presidential campaign “heats up” – not in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops.
The United States on Friday launched airstrikes on dozens of targets linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and allied groups after three American soldiers were killed in Jordan in an attack Washington blamed on Iran-backed militias.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, told a Security Council meeting about the strikes requested by Moscow that there was no justification for the US action.
“In these attempts to ‘muscle’ we see above all the desire to influence the domestic political scene in America, the desire to somehow correct the disastrous image of the current American administration on the international stage, as the campaign for the presidential election heats up. up,” he said.
American voters will go to the polls in November to elect a president for the next four years. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Nebenzio’s remarks about Biden.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood justified the US strikes in Syria and Iraq under Article 51 of the founding UN Charter, which covers the individual or collective right of states to self-defense against armed attack.
“Let me be clear: The United States does not want another conflict in the region as we actively work to contain and de-escalate the conflict in Gaza. And we are not seeking direct conflict with Iran. But we will continue to defend our staff against unacceptable attacks. Period,” Wood said.
He added that the strikes in Syria and Iraq were a “separate and distinct” operation from the US and British strikes against the Iran-linked Houthi group in Yemen in response to the Houthis targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
The Pentagon said Monday it was not aware of any Iranian deaths in the recent attacks. Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, condemned the US action as “illegitimate, illegal and unfounded”.
“All the resistance groups in the region are independent,” he told the 15-member UN Security Council on Monday.
“Any attempt to attribute these actions to Iran or its armed forces is misleading, baseless and unacceptable. Iran never seeks to contribute to spillovers in the region.
