Spokesman Warns Foreign Military Forces to Avoid Provocation in Persian Gulf

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Araqchi said Iran is closely watching the moves made by the alien military forces in the regional waters, and warned the US and its allies, which are conducting military drills in the Persian Gulf, to avoid provocative moves.

Speaking to reporters in his first weekly press conference as the new Iranian foreign ministry presser here in Tehran today, Araqchi pointed to the joint naval exercises underway by the US and several other of its allied navy troops in the Persian Gulf, and stated, “We are closely monitoring these movements.”

He stressed the significance of the Persian Gulf for the regional countries and the world’s energy supply, and expressed the hope that the foreign military forces and their allies “avoid provocative moves that could lead to escalated tension and unrests in the sensitive region which has experienced different tensions and conflicts in the last few years”.

Araqchi further reiterated Iran’s opposition to the deployment of foreign military troops in the region, and stated, “We have never seen the presence of the foreign forces as to be useful for the security of the region, rather we believe it is harmful to the security of the region.”

Last Tuesday, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that the Iranian naval forces have a close watch on all activities by the trans-regional forces in the region.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Navy’s special minesweeping exercises, Sayyari pointed to the foreign states’ presence in waters around Iran, and stated, “We are completely monitoring all traffics in the region and we are ready to confront any kind of threat or devilish move in the region.”

Sayyari said Iran does not oppose presence and deployment of troops in international waters, but at the same time warned that the country “will not allow anyone to invade or trespass on its territorial waters.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi said last Tuesday that US officials intend to repeat their navy drills in the Persian Gulf, while the country’s recent exercises in the same waters were a failure.

“Americans have staged the exercises using all their possibilities, claiming that 30 other states have joined them, but these exercises were not successful and the said countries did not take part in the drills as we observed,” Salehi said.

“Therefore” he said “they (Americans) are after repeating the exercises.”