TEHRAN - Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, has said that the U.S. must leave the region, noting that the U.S. is unwelcome in the region.

“Iraq and the region are dissatisfied with the presence of the United States, and the United States must respect the Iraqi parliament’s approval to end the United States’ military presence,” IRNA quoted him as saying on Saturday in an interview with Aljazeera. 

He said the Iraqi parliament’s approval is the result of more than 17 years of the U.S. occupation of the country.

The U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the false claim that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction. The invasion took place despite repeated confirmations by international bodies, including the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iraq did not have any secret weapons program. 

Takht-Ravanchi added that Iran and the Persian Gulf littoral states can solve their problems without U.S. interference.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the U.S. “corruptive presence” in the region must come to an end.

“This region does not accept presence of the United States. The people in the region and the regional governments rising from the people do not accept this issue,” the Leader said during a speech in Qom.

‘Gen. Soleimani was anti-terror hero’

Takht-Ravanchi also said that Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani was a “hero of fight against terrorism”.

Soleimani, commander of the IRGC Quds Force, was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 3. The Pentagon announced that Donald Trump had ordered the assassination.

“United States’ President Donald Trump received bad consultation and took an adventurist decision to assassinate General Qassem Soleimani,” Iran’s ambassador to the UN said.

Takht-Ravanchi said that Iran’s response to the U.S. terrorist action is based on “the international law of enjoying right to defend itself”.

He said that Iran’s next action depends on the U.S.

Iran fired dozens of ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in western Iraq on Wednesday in retaliation to the assassination of Soleimani.

NA/PA