Iran Not to Let Outsiders Create Insecurity in Persian Gulf: Larijani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani described the US plan to create a so-called security coalition in the Persian Gulf as a new plot to “plunder” the region and said the Islamic Republic will not allow the strategic body of water to be used as a tool to create insecurity.
Speaking at a military ceremony held in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Sunday to mark the Sacred Defense Week, Larijani praised the Iranian Armed Forces as “experienced” and a national and regional asset, adding that they have powerfully established security in the country and the region.
He further emphasized that the formation of a coalition by the US to create so-called security in the Strait of Hormuz is “a new means for plundering the region”.
“The regional countries, themselves, are capable of establishing security and the Islamic Iran’s Armed Forces do not allow the Persian Gulf to be played with (as a tool) to create insecurity in the region,” the parliament speaker stated.
“We regard the emergence of such coalitions as the start of a new game to make the region insecure,” Larijani went on to say.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday reiterated Washington’s plan to build a maritime coalition in the Persian Gulf to deter what he called Iranian threats.
He was speaking after talks with Saudi and Emirati leaders over last weekend attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities that Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran. Iran denies any involvement in the attack.
The Yemeni forces on September 14 launched drone attacks on two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, including the world's biggest petroleum processing facility.
The attacks came in retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition’s continued aggression on the Arabian Peninsula country.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.
The Saudi war has impacted over seven million children in Yemen who now face a serious threat of famine, according to UNICEF figures. Over 6,000 children have either been killed or sustained serious injuries since 2015, UN children’s agency said. The humanitarian situation in the country has also been exacerbated by outbreaks of cholera, polio, and measles.