U.S., U.K., and French forces launched air strikes targeting sites associated with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities, a reprisal for a chemical attack that killed at least 43 civilians and injured hundreds more.

The decision to strike was aimed at cutting off the production and use of chemical weapons in the country.

The assault was twice the size of a strike Mr. Trump ordered last year against a Syrian military airfield and hit two more targets.

European Union countries, Canada, Australia, members of the Arab union, and Gulf countries have fully supported the air strike.  But among the few countries who condemned this attack, there was Iran, whose mullah dictators warned that there would be "consequences" for the region.

Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said coordinated air strikes on Syria by the United States, France, and Britain on Saturday were a crime that would bring no benefit.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also lashed out at the Western states that conducted the joint massive missile strike on targets in Syria and warned of "regional consequences."

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said the U.S.-led attack against Syria would lead to the destruction of the Middle Eastern countries.

The bluster and heated rhetoric about "the region" were about par for the mullahs.  But the mullahs probably realize that it was really a strike against Iranian capacities in the region.

This strike was the result of one basic problem: that Iran came to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's aid, sending fighters and an organized airlift of militia fighters from a number of countries to bolster Mr. Assad's military and to prepare for retaliation after a chemical attack.

The U.S., U.K., and French air strikes also escalated the internal situation in Iran to further destabilize the Iranian regime, uniting the different factions of society in Iran.

According to the leading opposition group to the regime, the National Council of Resistance in Iran:

On April 17, 2018, thousands of people in the city of Kazerun demonstrated for the second day running in the city's main square. The merchants refused to open their shops. The protesters were chanting, "Our enemy is right here, but they keep saying it is America," "No fear, we are all together," "the movement will continue until we obtain our rights," "The protests, in which women played an active role, led to clashes with the security forces as the protesters tried to enter the Governor's Office.

In another development, on April 16, the families of those detained during the April demonstrations in Ahvaz staged a protest outside the governor's office and the office of the Majlis deputy from the city.  The security forces attempted to disperse the crowd through intimidation.  During the protests by the people of Ahvaz and other cities in Khuzestan Province, hundreds of people, including 11- to 15-year-old children, were arrested, and their fate is unknown.

On Sunday, April 15, 2018, in addition to the strikes of merchants and shopkeepers in the cities of Baneh and Javanrood, protests by deprived and oppressed people continued in various cities:

At midnight of Sunday, April 15, 2018, suppressive forces attacked houses of Khorasgan people in Isfahan in order to prevent the spread of protests and demonstrations by farmers and others, and arrested a number of farmers and youths in the city.

Throughout the day and night, repressive forces had an intense presence around Varzaneh, in an effort to intensify the atmosphere of fear and intimidation.  The anti-riot mercenaries also moved toward the city in twenty cars and four buses to stop the demonstrations of the people.

On Saturday, in spite of repressive measures in Isfahan, farmers gathered at the Khourasgan Square and Abazar Ave.  They chanted: "Imprisoned farmers should be freed; farmer dies, but does not accept humiliation; we are the women and men of battle, we will get back our right to water."

To end this, we could conclude that the U.S., U.K., and French air strikes had an impact on the region and especially on the internal situation in Iran.

Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate, specializing in political and economic issues relating to Iran and the Middle East.