President Rouhani to Unveil Regional Peace Plan
Iran’s Warning to Intruders: Stay Away
TEHRAN (Dispatches) — Iran's president called Sunday on Western powers to leave the security of the Persian Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran, criticizing a new U.S. mission to patrol the region's waterways.
"Foreign forces can cause problems and insecurity for our people and for our region," Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech at an annual military parade.
Rouhani separately promised to unveil a regional peace plan at this week's upcoming high-level meetings at the United Nations, which comes amid heightened Mideast tensions following a series of attacks, including a missile-and-drone assault on Saudi Arabia's oil industry.
The Sept. 14 attack on the world's largest oil processor in the kingdom and an oil field caused oil prices to spike by the biggest percentage since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Rouhani spoke from a riser at a military parade in Tehran, with uniformed officers from the country's military and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) beside him. The president later watched as goose-stepping soldiers carrying submachine guns and portable missile launchers drove past as part of "Holy Defense Week," which marks the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.
Rouhani said Iran was willing to "extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood" to Persian Gulf nations and was "even ready to forgive their past mistakes."
"Those who want to link the region's incidents to the Islamic Republic of Iran are lying like their past lies that have been revealed," the president said. "If they are truthful and really seek security in the region, they must not send weapons, fighter jets, bombs and dangerous arms to the region."
Rouhani added that the U.S. and Western nations should "stay away” from the region.
"If they're sincere, then they should not make our region the site of an arms race," he said.
"Your presence has always brought pain and misery for the region. The farther you keep yourselves from our region and our nations, the more security there will be for our region."
The president will travel to New York on Monday and return to Tehran on Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported, citing a communications official in Rouhani’s office.
Rouhani said Iran's plan would focus on providing security in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman "with help from regional countries." Iran has boosted its naval cooperation with China, India, Oman, Pakistan, and Russia in recent years.
"We are not someone who will violate the borders of others just as we will not allow anyone to violate our borders,” the president said.
The U.S. maintains military agreements across the Persian Gulf with allied Arab nations and has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The U.S. plans to send additional troops to the region after escalating tensions.
The parades and maneuvers Sunday projected Iranian strength with naval vessels, submarines and armed speedboats swarmed across the Persian Gulf and troops showed off land-to-sea missiles capable of targeting the U.S. Navy. Commandos fast-roped down onto the deck of a ship, resembling Iran's July seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker.
Iran separately displayed its Khordad-3 surface-to-air missile that downed a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz in June.
A domestically built long-range, surface-to-air missile air defense system, the Bavar-373, which Iranian media have described as a competitor to the Russian S-300 missile system, was also on display.
Sunday also marked the one-year anniversary of an attack on a military parade in Ahvaz that killed 25 people. Both Saudi-backed terrorists and Daesh claimed responsibility for the assault, while Iran blamed Saudi Arabia and the UAE for supporting the attackers.
"Foreign forces can cause problems and insecurity for our people and for our region," Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech at an annual military parade.
Rouhani separately promised to unveil a regional peace plan at this week's upcoming high-level meetings at the United Nations, which comes amid heightened Mideast tensions following a series of attacks, including a missile-and-drone assault on Saudi Arabia's oil industry.
The Sept. 14 attack on the world's largest oil processor in the kingdom and an oil field caused oil prices to spike by the biggest percentage since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Rouhani spoke from a riser at a military parade in Tehran, with uniformed officers from the country's military and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) beside him. The president later watched as goose-stepping soldiers carrying submachine guns and portable missile launchers drove past as part of "Holy Defense Week," which marks the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.
Rouhani said Iran was willing to "extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood" to Persian Gulf nations and was "even ready to forgive their past mistakes."
"Those who want to link the region's incidents to the Islamic Republic of Iran are lying like their past lies that have been revealed," the president said. "If they are truthful and really seek security in the region, they must not send weapons, fighter jets, bombs and dangerous arms to the region."
Rouhani added that the U.S. and Western nations should "stay away” from the region.
"If they're sincere, then they should not make our region the site of an arms race," he said.
"Your presence has always brought pain and misery for the region. The farther you keep yourselves from our region and our nations, the more security there will be for our region."
The president will travel to New York on Monday and return to Tehran on Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported, citing a communications official in Rouhani’s office.
Rouhani said Iran's plan would focus on providing security in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman "with help from regional countries." Iran has boosted its naval cooperation with China, India, Oman, Pakistan, and Russia in recent years.
"We are not someone who will violate the borders of others just as we will not allow anyone to violate our borders,” the president said.
The U.S. maintains military agreements across the Persian Gulf with allied Arab nations and has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The U.S. plans to send additional troops to the region after escalating tensions.
The parades and maneuvers Sunday projected Iranian strength with naval vessels, submarines and armed speedboats swarmed across the Persian Gulf and troops showed off land-to-sea missiles capable of targeting the U.S. Navy. Commandos fast-roped down onto the deck of a ship, resembling Iran's July seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker.
Iran separately displayed its Khordad-3 surface-to-air missile that downed a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz in June.
A domestically built long-range, surface-to-air missile air defense system, the Bavar-373, which Iranian media have described as a competitor to the Russian S-300 missile system, was also on display.
Sunday also marked the one-year anniversary of an attack on a military parade in Ahvaz that killed 25 people. Both Saudi-backed terrorists and Daesh claimed responsibility for the assault, while Iran blamed Saudi Arabia and the UAE for supporting the attackers.