U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday acknowledged that Iran was seeking to bolster its presence in the war-torn country but that "Iran is no longer the same country" since he exited the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed financial sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Trump claimed Iran was suffering under the sanctions but admitted it remains a powerful presence in Syria. Blaming the balance of power in Syria on his predecessor, Barack Obama, Trump said that Syria was "lost long ago," adding, "We're talking about sand and death. We're not talking about vast wealth."
Iran "is pulling people out of Syria," he told a press briefing at the end of a cabinet meeting in the White House. "They can do what they want there, frankly, but they're pulling people out," he said, referring to Iranian forces in the war-torn country.
Trump, who recently announced he would be pulling American troops from Syria, said he did not want the U.S. military fighting there forever. Still, he gave no timetable for the planned military exit from Syria.
He further denied a report according to which he had set a four-month timetable for the withdrawal of 2,000 American troops stationed in Syria amid a battle against Islamic State militants.
"We're getting out and we're getting out smart. I never said I'm getting out tomorrow," he said.
In recent days, Trump appeared to back off from any hasty pullout and stressed that the operation would be slow.
"We're slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time fighting ISIS," he said.
U.S. officials said that Trump was committed to making sure Turkey did not clash with the Kurdish YPG forces once U.S. troops leave Syria, and was assuring the NATO ally that it would have a buffer zone in the region to help protect its own interests.
Turkey views the YPG as a branch of its own Kurdish separatist movement and is threatening to launch an offensive against the group, igniting fears of significant civilian casualties.
U.S. commanders planning the U.S. withdrawal are recommending that YPG fighters battling Islamic State be allowed to keep U.S.-supplied weapons, according to U.S. officials.
That proposal would likely anger Turkey, where Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, is expected to hold talks in the coming days.
Trump said he was not happy that the Kurds were selling oil to Iran, but that he wanted to protect them either way.
"I didn't like the fact that they're selling the small [amount of] oil that they have to Iran, and we asked them not to sell it to Iran. We're not thrilled about that. OK? I'm not happy about it at all," he said.
"We want to protect the Kurds, nevertheless. We want to protect the Kurds, but I don't want to be in Syria forever. It's sand. And it's death."
Also on Wednesday, Syria's Defense Ministry said a convoy of Syrian Kurdish fighters has pulled out of the flashpoint area of Manbij in northern Syria, close to territory controlled by Turkey.
The town, some 20 miles from the Turkish border, is a critical spot on the map of the Syrian conflict, near the junction of three separate blocks of territory that form spheres of Russian, Turkish and – for now – U.S. influence.
"According to information, approximately 400 Kurdish fighters have left Manbij so far," the ministry said. "Their departure was in line with an agreement "for the return of normal life to the area of northern Syria."
