The presence of US troops in the Middle East has been a mistake from the very beginning and served as a factor to destabilise the situation in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi stated, commenting on the withdrawal of US forces from Syria, Trend reported citing Sputnik.
"In fact, the deployment and the presence of the US forces in the region from the early beginning was an erroneous, irrational step triggering tensions and unrest and has always been viewed as one of the key factors of instability, dangerous situation in the region", Ghasemi said via his Telegram channel.
The statement comes after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out all 2,000 US troops from Syria as the Daesh* terror group had been defeated there. The US president, however, did not warn key allies, his own advisers, and Pentagon and State Department staff, who learned of his intentions the evening of December 18.
The move has reportedly prompted the resignation of Defence Secretary James Mattis, set to leave the White House on 28 February 2019. This idea has been expressed by Senator Lindsey Graham, who claimed, citing Mattis, that Daesh had not been defeated and that "a replay of Iraq was very likely".
Commenting on the decision, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that the United States withdrawing its forces from Syria did not mean the end of the coalition to fight the Daesh terrorist group.
The first to announce the US plans of withdrawal was Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, with the US president himself confirming this information later. Speaking on the issue, the Turkish top diplomat specified that Ankara would postpone its planned military advance against Kurdish YPG forces in northeastern Syria until the pullout was over.