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Iran on Friday condemned the Trump administrations missile strikes against Syria, saying the unilateral U.S. action would strengthen terrorists and further complicate the situation in the Middle East.

The Islamic republic, a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said that whileit condemned the use of chemical weapons, the U.S. response was dangerous, destructive and a violation of international law.

The Pentagon fired dozens of Tomahawk missiles early Friday at a Syrian airfield in retaliation for a poison gas attack against civilians this week that the U.S. believes was carried out by Assads forces. It was the first time the U.S. directly targeted the Assad government since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi rejected the conclusion that Assads forces had carried out the poison attack on Tuesday that killed more than 70 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in rebel-held Idlib province. Doctors who treated some of the victims said their symptoms were consistent with exposure to the nerve agent sarin.

Ghassemi said the attack was suspicious and its timing, actors and perpetrators are cloaked in a curtain of ambiguity. He invoked Irans history as a victim of chemical warfare, carried out by Saddam Husseins Iraqi forces during a grisly war in the 1980s.

At Friday prayers in Tehran, where clerics deliver sermons that reflect the view of the ruling theocracy, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani echoed the Syrian government account, suggesting that poison gas was released when Assads military targeted a rebel weapons depot that had contained chemical agents.

The chemical weapons are in the hands of terrorists and the Syrian army attacks the terrorists, but all are making a hue and cry that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, Kashani said. It is a sheer lie.

Iranian Shiite Muslim militias, along with Russian air power and ground troops, have been among Assads strongest allies against the Sunni rebels, a patchwork of rival forces including extremists from Islamic State as well as more moderate groups trained and financed by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence.

Western experts estimate that Iran spends billions of dollars a year to bolster Assad and support his military.

Iran has also recruited Shiite militiamen from Afghanistan and Iraq to fight alongside Syrian forces and help guard Shiite shrines in Assad-controlled areas.

Experts in Tehran said that Iranian and Russian support would help keep Assad in power barring a significant escalation by the Trump administration.

As long as Russia is supporting Assads regime, these missile attacks are a flexing of muscle by Trump, but they are far from toppling Bashar Assad, said Nader Karimi Juni, a leading political analyst. In fact, America cannot topple Assad unless its ground forces land on Syrian soil.

After Friday prayers, a small group of demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing the U.S. while some worshipers called for a strong response against the missile strikes.

We should send more defenders of holy shrines to Syria and Russia should retaliate and bombard the American-sponsored terrorists in Syria too, said Karim Hamwarsi, a worshiper.

Others were worried about a widening conflict. An elderly man riding Tehrans subway, who gave his name only as Ali, said Irans support for Assad was coming at a high price.

I am worried about future and there might be a war between Iran and America, he said.

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia

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Syrian ally Iran blasts U.S. missile strikes as 'dangerous ...

DUBAI Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on Saturday for an impartial probe of this week's suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and warned that U.S. missile strikes in response risked escalating extremism in the region.

Washington accused the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of the attack and on Friday launched cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase that the Pentagon said was involved.

"We are asking for an impartial international fact-finding body to be set up... to find out where these chemical weapons came from," Iran's Rouhani said in a speech on Saturday.

Tehran is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main regional ally and has provided military and economic support for his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants.

While the Syrian opposition applauded the U.S. cruise missile attack on the airbase near Homs, it said it should not be a one-off and was not enough on its own to stop government warplanes from hitting rebel-held areas.

However, in a tweet about the missile strikes, Rouhani said: "I call on the world to reject such policies, which bring only destruction and danger to the region and the globe."

"U.S. aggression against Shayrat (airbase) strengthens regional extremism and terror, and global lawlessness and instability, and must be condemned," Rouhani said.

The heads of the general staffs of Iran and Russia, a close ally of Assad, spoke by telephone on Saturday and condemned the U.S. strikes as "blatant aggression ... aimed at slowing a trend of victories by Syria's army and its allies and boosting the terrorists' morale", Iran's state news agency IRNA said.

Iran's Mohammad Baqeri and Russia's Valery Gerasimov "stressed that the two countries would continue their cooperation with the Syrian government until the full defeat of the terrorists and their backers in the country", IRNA added.

North Korea weighed in on Saturday, calling the U.S. strikes "an unforgivable act of aggression" that showed its own decision to develop nuclear weapons was "the right choice a million times over".

Diplomatically isolated North Korea considers Syria a key ally.

TILLERSON TO MOSCOW

Russia had said on Friday that the U.S. attack could have "extremely serious" consequences, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the U.S. strikes were one step away from a clash with Russia's military.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to visit Moscow next week, and the Russian Foreign Ministry has said it expected him to explain Washington's stance in light of the U.S. missile strikes on Syria.

Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday the United States had not provided any evidence of the presence of chemical weapons on the airbase it had attacked.

A mission of professional experts should be sent to the airbase to obtain objective evidence, Interfax cited Igor Konashenkov, the defense ministry's spokesman, as saying.

U.S. officials informed Russian forces ahead of the missile strikes on and avoided hitting Russian personnel. Satellite imagery suggests the base that was attacked houses Russian special forces and helicopters, part of Kremlin efforts to help Assad fight Islamic State and other militant groups.

Britain's foreign minister Boris Johnson had been due to visit Moscow on Monday but said on Saturday that he had canceled his trip after developments in Syria.

"My priority is now to continue contact with the U.S. and others in the run-up to the G7 meeting on 10-11 April - to build coordinated international support for a ceasefire on the ground and an intensified political process," Johnson said.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Alexander Smith and Hugh Lawson)

COLOGNE, Germany U.S. Navy Admiral Michelle Howard said on Saturday U.S. cruise missile strikes on an air base in Syria had destroyed the means to deliver chemical weapons from that base, and the U.S. military remained ready to carry out further strikes if needed.

SEOUL North Korea said on Saturday U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian airfield on Friday were "an unforgivable act of aggression" that showed its decision to develop nuclear weapons was "the right choice a million times over".

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Iran's Rouhani wants chemical attack in Syria investigated - Reuters

Runners at the start of the first international marathon in Tehran.

Backed by the Dutch organizer of what was billed as Irans first international marathon, a group of women ran alongside men outdoors on Friday, ignoring orders by an Iranian government official requiring female runners to complete their course apart from men off the streets in a nearby stadium.

As an organizer I did NOT accept that, Sebatiaan Straten, the Dutchman who organized the event through his group I Run Iran, told The Washington Post in an email on Friday. Female runners had 10K route outside the stadium with same start and finish as male race.

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Straten said a small number of women also decided to run the full 42-kilometer race alongside men, including Chinese runner Wu Juan.

That these women chose to run outdoors with men is technically against the law in Iran, which requires men and women to compete apart from each other since the countrys 1979 revolution. There are even laws that ban women from watching mens sporting events in person and vice versa.

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Despite what appears to have been a giant step forward at the Tehran marathon on Friday, however, women were still required to uphold strict wardrobe rules during the run that requires them to cover their bodies save for their faces, hands and feet. Men, meanwhile, wore standard running gear, including shorts and tank tops.

It is unclear whether the women who ran outside will face any repercussions from Irans conservative government.

The order that women run the marathon apart from men came down this week from the head of Irans track and field federation, Majid Keyhani, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

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Personally I do not agree with that, Straten told the AP at the time, noting We are trying to find other ways to make step[s] for female running in Iran.

While Iranian women continue to fight for more equal rights to participate and watch sporting events in the country, Iran largely still sticks closely to its post-revolution traditions, especially regarding its wardrobe rules.

In February, the countrys chess federation kicked teenage chess prodigy Dorsa Derakhshani off the national team for competing without a hijab at the Gibraltar Chess Festival.

Unfortunately, what shouldnt have happened has happened, Pahlevanzadeh told the Irans semiofficial Fars News Agency at the time (via Radio Free Europe). Our national interests have priority over everything.

That reputation may be why the marathon failed to attract as many women as men.

According to the AP, of the 600 Iranian runners who registered for the race, only 156 were women.

Meanwhile, the AP reports at least 160 foreign runners had also agreed to participate, including 50 women. However, because of problems regarding the procurement of visas for Americans, as well as some other nationalities, several of those runners could not gain access to the country to participate in the race.

This is the second race Straten has organized, but the first one women in which could officially participate. He organized a race in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz last April that he considered a success. While that race banned women altogether, two female runners decided to run anyway in protest. Masoumeh Torabi and Elham Manoocheri both appear to have avoided arrest for their participation. They also earned accolades from Straten at the time.

Both have shown and proven that Iranian women can run in Iran, he told Runners World last year. We hope many Iranian women will follow in their footsteps in next editions!

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A handful of women ignored Iranian orders by running Tehran marathon outdoors alongside men - The Boston Globe

Islamabad has given clearance to recently retired chief of army staff Gen. Raheel Sharif to command what is being described as a Muslim NATO based in Saudi Arabia. Sharifs new position is expected to be announced later this month in Riyadh. Though the mission and activities of the coalition (known as the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism or IMAFT) are unclear, Sharifs involvement in the Saudi-led initiative could disrupt Pakistans delicate balancing act vis--vis- Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two major powerhouses in the Muslim world locked in an ugly cold war. Still, while there are risks associated with the move, they are outweighed by its potential benefits.

Sharifs acceptance of the Saudi offer was first reported in early January, but he was only given clearance, also known as a No Objection Certificate, in late March, after Pakistani civilian and military officials informed their Iranian counterparts of the move. The former army chief reportedly told Saudi leaders that he would accept the position on the condition that the coalition would not be anti-Iran and even requested to play a diplomatic role in easing tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. Nonetheless, this week the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan indicated that his government was not in favor of the move.

In all likelihood, the Saudi-led IMAFT will exclude Iran, but will not be anti-Iran, focusing instead on counterterrorism. Those close to Sharif have said on Pakistani television that the coalition will promote intelligence sharing between Muslim-majority countries, which is critical as foreign fighters from the so-called Islamic State return to their home countries. Neither Sharif nor the coalition itself is likely to engage Iran in proxy wars, such as the disastrous Yemen war.

Mainstream and Shia political parties in Pakistan, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, led by ex-cricketer Imran Khan, have criticized the government for allowing Sharif to head the Saudi-led group. They argue that Sharifs leadership amounts to Pakistan taking a side in the Iran-Saudi regional war. In 2014, Pakistans parliament passed a resolution calling for their government to adopt neutrality in the Yemen war, after Riyadh has presumptuously announced that Islamabad was part of its coalition to restore the Hadi government.

Pakistans non-participation in Yemen combat operations was the right decision. The Yemen war is a strategic and humanitarian disaster, causing over ten thousand deaths and putting the poor country on the brink of famineall while failing to dislodge the Houthis and restore Hadi to power. Pakistan was able to focus on its war within. Civilian fatalities due to terrorism declined by 80 percent from 2013 into the end of 2016, sectarian violence deaths also dropped by around 75 percent over this period.

Still, Islamabad paid a price for not participating in combat operations in Yemen. Ties with Riyadh reportedly cooled and the United Arab Emirates tightened its embrace of New Delhi, Islamabads arch-rival. Relations with Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have since reboundedbut Sharifs leadership of the coalition will serve as a much-needed corrective, enabling Pakistani military diplomacy to rebuild and bolster ties with Arab Gulf states and slow the pace of deepening strategic ties between India and the GCC.

Furthermore, Pakistan has done its part by conveying its red lines to Iran. If it backtracks, it will signal that Iran has a veto power over Pakistans national-security policymaking.

Pakistan has already made concessions to Iran with respect to the regional sectarian war. On top of rebuffing pressure from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh to join the Yemen war, Islamabad also backtracked from its initial diplomatic support for the Syrian rebels.

Also, Islamabad has never publicly commented on Irans recruitment of Pakistani Shias to fight in Syria. That Iran may now be sending Afghan Shia fighters from Syria to Yemen should be of concern to Pakistan, as it means that Pakistani Shias could soon follow. Irans use of Afghan and Pakistani Shia militants has grown from the initial pretext of shrine protection in Syria to support for the Bashar al-Assad government. Now, it has expanded beyond the Iraq-Syria theater to buttressing the Houthis. Iranian support for Pakistani Shia militants provides fodder for the Pakistani Taliban and the so-called Islamic State, which are bent on cleansing Pakistan of its Shia population. And it also presents a possible future threat to Pakistan, if and when these fighters return home, especially given Irans historic assistance to Shia militants inside Pakistan, including in the restive Kurram Agency.

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Can Pakistan Remain Neutral in the Saudi-Iran Rivalry? - The National Interest Online

The file photo shows Iran's Lavan logistic warship.

The naval forces of the Islamic Republicand Oman will hold five-day joint rescue and relief drills in Irans southern waters and the northern areasof the Indian Ocean, an Iranian commander says.

An Iranian naval flotilla, comprising Sabalan destroyer, Lavan logistic warship and helicopter carrier, SH3D helicopter and Falakhan missile-equipped warships, left Iran for Oman on Saturday to take part in the drills, the commander of Iran's First Naval Zone, Rear Admiral Hossein Azad, said.

He added that it was imperative to improve security in Irans southern waters and the Indian Ocean given their geographical significance inmaritime economy and busy traffic of ships and oil tankers.

The naval forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the neighboring country of Oman will draw plans and stage joint maneuvers to this effect, Azad said.

Iran and Oman have so far held several naval relief and rescue drills aimed at enhancing readiness for providing relief services, conducting rescue operations, improving the level of regional cooperation and exchanging experience.

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Iran Navy dispatches fleet to Kazakhstan for 1st time

The Iranian Navy also on Saturday dispatched a flotilla to the Kazakh port city of Aktau for the first time, the commander of Iran's fleet of warships in the northern province of Gilan, Admiral Ahmadreza Baqeri, said.

The Peace and Friendship flotilla consists ofDamavand destroyer and Peykan missile-launcher destroyer and plans to stay in Kazakhstan for three days, he added.

He emphasized that the fleet would convey Irans message of peace and friendship.

The Iranian naval personnel and commanders on board the fleet are scheduled to visit Kazakhstans military and historical sites and hold talks with the countrys naval officials.

In recent years, the Iranian Navy has increased its presence in international waters to protect naval routes and provide security for merchant vessels and tankers.

In line with international efforts against piracy, the Iranian Navy has been also conducting patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008 in order to safeguard merchant containers and oil tankers owned or leased by Iran or other countries.

Irans Navy has managed to foil several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tanker ships during its missions in international waters.

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Iran, Oman to hold joint naval drills in Indian Ocean: Commander - Press TV