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Article snippet: Russia and Iran on Saturday denounced overnight airstrikes from the U.S., France and Britain against targets associated with their ally Syrian leader Bashar Assad over an apparent chemical weapons attack. “With their actions, the U.S. is deepening a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to The Wall Street Journal. Putin slammed the strikes as an "act of aggression against a sovereign state" and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, but stopped short of threatening any specific retaliation against the strikes. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, claimed in a post on his website that the leaders of the U.S., France and Britain "have committed a major crime." "They will gain no benefit; just as they did not while in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, over the past years, committing the same criminal acts," he said. Iran and Russia have both been close allies of Syria's Assad, with Moscow providing military support for the Syrian government amid a years-long civil war there. The Trump administration sought to prebut claims from such allies after launching about 120 missiles Friday at three targets in Syria associated with the government's chemical weapons efforts. Defense Secretary MORE ended a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday night by warning of false reports from “those who have aligned themselves with the Assad regime.” “Based on recent experience we ... Link to the full article to read more