By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

It is about time concerted efforts were made by Iran and other littoral states to drive away all intruding forces from not just the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea, but from the entire northern part of the Indian Ocean.
The chief mischief-monger is, of course, the US, which has no right to station its forces anywhere in this part of the world, but unfortunately, the lack of legitimacy of certain regimes, especially the illegitimate entity called Israel, has provided the pretext for the Americans to send their navy and set up military bases in several neighbourring countries.
This provocative policy of Washington has disturbed the peace and stability of the region, and is the main cause for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, as well as the sprouting of various terrorist outfits from Pakistan till Egypt and beyond to keep the region in perpetual turmoil.
As a result, several countries have been suffering from underdevelopment, while several others have been destroyed.
Take a look at Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, where the illegal military presence of the US has destroyed towns, cities, the infrastructure and the entire economy, of these lands, while Yemen and its people continue to be pounded daily by American armaments.
If in Palestine there is no peace and economic welfare for the sons of the soil groaning under the jackboot of the East European Zionists, the oil rich Arab states which depend on foreign labour for survival, should not think that glamourous cities they have built in the deserts could be called ‘development’ in the absence of mother industries and indigenous expertise.
Even the aircraft and other heavy weaponry they have bought from the US and West, cannot be handled by their citizens.
Time and again, the governments of Syria and Iraq have called for the exit of the US military forces, but Washington continues to ignore their demands, and when the local militias use their right to retaliate against the crimes of the occupiers, these terrorists from the other side of the world have the nerve to accuse the defenders of ‘terrorism’.
Moreover, they blame the Islamic Republic of Iran for their debacles, since it is only the Iranian people who have never allowed the US to meddle in their affairs, after having kicked out some 50,000 American military personnel on the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
In view of these facts, it is time for the regional states to wake up and follow the lead of the popular forces in their countries, who want complete independence and do not want the Americans to stay in their homelands or in the adjoining waters.
This is proof of the fact that diplomacy has failed and cannot force the US to withdraw, which means the only viable option that is left to drive out the Americans from all over the region, is concerted field action, which the cowardly occupiers very much dread.