Yahya Rahim-Safavi: “PG states should not enter political games of foreign powers”

A senior Iranian commander has warned certain regional states against involvement in the political games of foreign powers, saying the ramifications of any crisis in the Persian Gulf region will be all-encompassing.

During a speech at the Fifth National Geographical Names Conference in Tehran on Monday, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, senior military adviser to the Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, said the regional countries that seek to create tension by making baseless claims regarding Iran’s sovereignty should not repeat the words of foreign powers.

“Be aware that any crisis in the Persian Gulf will engulf you as well,” Safavi warned before reasserting the capability of the Iranian Armed Forces to fully defend the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“The Iranian nation seeks peace and security in the Persian Gulf as well as cooperation with its neighbors; and it sees any tension as being in the interest of foreign powers,” he added.

On April 11, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Iranian Island of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf as part of his tour of the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan.

On the same day, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan criticized the visit as a “violation of UAE sovereignty over its territories.”

The islands of the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world.

The islands temporarily fell under British control in the 1800s, but were returned to Iran on November 30, 1971, through a legal procedure that preceded the establishment of the UAE as a state.