“I suppose the US will not repeat the mistake [Washington made] in Iraq and Afghanistan in Syria,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said on Saturday.
“On the one hand, the US -- economically speaking and considering the fact that it is shouldering the heavy burden of the war in Afghanistan -- has no capacity to open a new front, while on the other hand, US allies and NATO nations are still trapped in the mire of Afghanistan (war),” he explained.
Boroujerdi stressed that unlike in Afghanistan and Iraq, any military intervention in Syria would spread to other countries in the region. “Of course this contradicts the interests the Americans are pursuing in the Middle East,” he added.
The Iranian legislator's remarks came one day after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon was moving forces into place in case US President Barack Obama opts for military action against Syria.
Boroujerdi reiterated Tehran’s position that the only way out of the prolonged crisis in Syria is through a peaceful political solution, which would end the Western-backed militancy in the Arab country.
“Negotiations should be held with the aim of ending this crisis and the acts of the US and its allies, and particularly their support for terrorist groups [in Syria],” he urged, holding Washington responsible for the spillover of terrorism out of the Syrian borders.
The lawmaker also condemned a recent chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus, expressing hope that UN inspectors in Syria will “have the courage” to tell the world the truth about the deadly attack, which he said appears to a resort by desperate anti-government militants.
On Wednesday, Syria's opposition claimed that around 1,300 people were killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.
But the Syrian Army strongly rejected any role in the alleged chemical attack, saying the accusations were fabricated to distract a visiting team of the UN chemical weapons experts and to cover up militants' losses.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and several million more displaced due to the violence.
