TEHRAN -- The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said Monday the presence of the occupying regime of Israel in the Persian Gulf will only lead to increased tensions.
Ali Shamkhani made the remarks addressing a gathering of Iran’s diplomatic missions in neighboring countries, stressing the need for more synergism and convergence among the regional countries.
“Elimination of any form of tension and even misunderstanding, all-out development of cooperation, especially in economic, defense and security fields, and promotion of strategic partnership are among the most important priorities of Iran’s foreign policy with regard to its neighbors,” Press TV quoted him as saying.
Shamkhani said the Zionist regime’s main agenda is to promote Iranophobia and create tension in Iran’s relations with its neighbors.
“This is why we believe that any presence of this regime in the Persian Gulf would create crisis and tension and would be detrimental to the interests of regional countries and nations,” he said.
He touched on the United States’ declining hegemonic power amid the growing development of emerging powers. “These conditions have led to fundamental changes and also given birth to new tensions and major rivalries with the U.S. at global level,” he added.
The senior Iranian security official cited the defeat of the so-called “maximum pressure” policy pursued by the U.S. and its allies against Iran as one of the most important cases of recent
 developments on global scale.
“All major players in the region and the world have now admitted that not only has the U.S. maximum pressure failed thanks to the unparalleled resistance of the Iranian nation, but Iran and the resistance front have also managed to overcome one of the most important factors of insecurity in the region that is Daesh, and destroyed the epicenter of U..S-organized terrorism” in the region, he said.
Separately, the commander of the Iranian Air Force said the Islamic Republic would never initiate a war with any country, but would give a crushing response to any act of aggression.
“We, in the Air Force, will spare no effort to upgrade our combat capability and readiness to vigilantly respond to any level and type of aerial threats,” Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi told commanders and professors at Shahid Sattari Aeronautical University.
“Our doctrine is defensive and we do not intend to invade any country, but … we will confront any aggression with full power,” which will make enemies rue their act, and “we will give a crushing response” to enemies of the Islamic Republic, he added.
The Air Force chief touched on Iran’s drone power, saying it “has become an important component of asymmetric warfare, and by the grace of God, we have made significant progress in the field of UAVs”.
The remarks were made a few days after a U.S. House panel approved a bill to restrict the proliferation of Iran’s military drone in the midst of negotiations over the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced on Friday the passage of the Stop Iranian Drones Act (SIDA), which would impose a ban on the supply, sale or transfer of military drones to or from Iran under U.S. law, by its members.