US Persian Gulf presence ‘illegitimate’

Ali Shamkhani who was speaking on the sidelines of a funeral ceremony on Thursday, refuted the US officials allegations that Iran’s speedboats had carried out unnecessary and unprofessional maneuvering vis-à-vis US warships and that Iran’s warning to US planes approaching the Iranian airspace as mere petty pretexts sought by the US officials to open communications with Iran and had been futile propaganda measure.

“The US has been in the region quite contrary to the wishes and willing of the nations of the region,” Mr. Shamkhani said, turning to a question of whether the view that Iran should slow expansion of its military was accurate and tenable; “in such an important region as the Middle East, peace would not be attained without power, either military or hegemonic; the region is too replete with threats as hostile as ISIL and western imperialist powers to abandon any military power or slow its pace; the Zionism has been no less innocuous and should be watched closely,” he told reporters.

On the important issue of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which had been hotly debated by its proponents in the government and Parliament and opponents outside and inside Parliament, Shamkahni believed that any documents endorsing the FATF by SNSC should be approved also by the Leader to be effective; “despite the conflict of ideas about FATF among different actors in the political spectrum, I believe that the more harmonious and coordinated these diverse actors, the less will be the issues and adverse criticism on the FATF,” he concluded.