Iran and
Russia on Tuesday criticized and scoffed at Trump administration plans to protect oil deposits in
Syria, with
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov accusing
Washington of "illegal" actions.
Lavrov joined Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Geneva to lend support to U.N.-backed talks among Syrian government, opposition and civil society delegations on the country's constitution starting Wednesday.
The most pointed comments at their joint news conference addressed new
Pentagon plans to increase efforts to protect Syria's oil fields from both the
Islamic State radical group and the Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government, even as U.S. forces are withdrawn from other parts of the country.