Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani speaks at a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on Jan 8, 2024. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

TEHRAN/DAMASCUS - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that many of the insecurities, instabilities and tensions in West Asia have roots in the US military presence and interventions in the region.

He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran, while commenting on the recent tensions between US forces and resistance groups in Iraq and other regional states.

"Many of the insecurities, instabilities and tensions in the region have roots in the US government's political, military and security interventions in the region as well as its unlimited and unconditional support for Israel," said Kanaani.

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Kanaani's remarks followed an attack launched by the US military on Thursday on the headquarters of the Hashd Shaabi resistance group in eastern Baghdad, which killed three people, including a leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba group that is part of Hashd Shaabi.

The spokesman said the recent developments in the Red Sea are the outcomes of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and the ongoing conflict against Gaza over the past three months

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani said on Friday his government would soon start talks with the US-led coalition in Iraq through a committee to arrange the withdrawal of foreign troops, a move he said was "a commitment that the government will not back down from."

The time has come for the US military forces' pullout from the Iraqi territory, Kanaani said, adding regional countries could ensure peace, stability and security through collective cooperation without the help of transregional military forces. 

'Outcomes' of Israeli operation

Kanaani on Monday also talked about the Red Sea situation. 

The spokesman said the recent developments in the Red Sea are the outcomes of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and the ongoing conflict against Gaza over the past three months.

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Kanaani added the war had had consequences in the region, and "if it goes on, the consequences will continue."

Commenting on the ongoing tour of the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the claim of sending an indirect message to Iran during the trip, he noted Iran had not seen effective steps by the United States and some of its Western allies to stop the Israeli "war crimes (against Gaza)" and prevent the expansion of the conflict in the region.

Members of the Yemeni Coast Guard affiliated with the Houthi group patrol the sea as demonstrators march through the Red Sea port city of Hodeida in solidarity with the people of Gaza on Jan 4, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

He added that the international community saw the contradiction between the words and actions of certain Western states, emphasizing that while raising the issue of insecurity in the region, they still stoke instability in it.

Iran-backed militias launched three assaults on US military bases in Syria on Monday, the latest in a series of escalated attacks carried out against the backdrop of the Israeli military assault in Gaza, a war monitor reported

Kanaani called on the United States and some European countries to pay attention to the roots of the crisis and stop their support for Israel if they sought to resolve the crisis.

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In response to the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and "in solidarity with the Palestinians," the Yemen-based Houthis have launched attacks on commercial vessels in recent weeks, primarily near Bab el-Mandeb.

The spokesman also strongly condemned Israel's assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander on Monday in southern Lebanon, denouncing it as a "despicable terrorist operation".

US bases in Syria attacked

Iran-backed militias launched three assaults on US military bases in Syria on Monday, the latest in a series of escalated attacks carried out against the backdrop of the Israeli military assault in Gaza, a war monitor reported.

The militias launched two rockets from within Syrian territory on a US base established inside the Conoco Gas Field in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Monday evening, with witnesses reporting two powerful explosions in the base area accompanied by billowing smoke rising from the site, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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The Britain-based watchdog group said the US forces stationed in the area immediately went on high alert in response to the attack.

The attack follows strikes on the Al-Omar Oil Field Base in Deir al-Zour and the Kharab al-Jir base in the northeastern province of Al-Hasakah earlier in the day, the observatory noted. It said the base in Al-Omar Oil Field, the largest US base in Syria, came under an attack with 24 rockets, calling it a major attack on the base.

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According to the observatory, the latest assault on the Conoco base marks the 82nd attack on US bases within Syrian territory by Iran-backed militias since Oct 19, 2023, as a retaliation for the US support to Israel in its military campaign in the Gaza Strip.