Friday's U.S. air strikes against Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria encourage terrorism in the region, Iran's top security official, Ali Shamkhani, said on Saturday.
Washington said the strikes on positions of the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) paramilitary group along the Iraq border were in response to rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
"America's recent action strengthens and expands the activities of the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) in the region," Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security council, said in remarks to visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.