DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Wednesday denied any links between Iran and sites targeted by the United States in Syria. "The American attack on the infrastructure and the Syrian people is a violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The targeted sites have nothing to do with the Islamic Republic," Kanaani added. On Tuesday, the US military said it had carried out a strike in Deir Ezzor, Syria, targeting infrastructure facilities used by groups linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The strike came as the United States aims to respond to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would restore the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which former President Donald Trump abandoned and current President Joe Biden seeks to revive. The Army Central Command said in a statement that such strikes are aimed at protecting US forces from attacks by Iranian-backed groups. It cited one such incident on August 15 that Reuters said included a drone attack on a compound run by the coalition and US-backed Syrian opposition fighters, causing no casualties. "The president gave directions for this strike," military spokesman Colonel Joe Buccino said. Central Command described the strike as "a proportionate and deliberate measure aimed at reducing the risk of escalation and minimizing the risk of casualties." The statement about the US strike on Tuesday did not say whether there were casualties, or whether it was carried out by manned or unmanned aircraft. This is not the first time that US warplanes have struck Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. In June of last year, the United States bombed operations command and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq. American forces were deployed for the first time in Syria during the campaign of former President Barack Obama's administration against the Islamic State, in partnership with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. About 900 US troops are deployed in Syria, most of them in the east. But Iran-backed militias established a foothold in Syria as they fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war. Iran-backed militias are largely concentrated west of the Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor province, where they get supplies from Iraq through the Albu Kamal border crossing.