BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt accused the U.S. of using the Syrian war to exhaust Iran financially, militarily and politically on the Voice of Russia radio station Wednesday.

He made the comments while in Russia to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Jumblatt predicted Syria has a long and turbulent path ahead, expressing his regret that “several influential countries are contributing to enrage the war in Syria.”

“The Iranian nuclear file will stay at the center of American interests [in the region] and in Syria the Americans are managing the war to exhaust Iran,” he said.

“Syria must not be turned into a corpse in the Iranian-American confrontation because Syria is a central ring in the Middle East and it must be kept unified.”