The Persian Gulf region is one of the most strategic regions in the world, because it abounds with oil and gas reserves and meets a large part of the world’s demand for energy.

That is why the world powers have always been attracted to this region and tried to wield influence on regional governments.
But, the presence of extra-regional players in the region has negatively affected its security, and this problem has taken its toll on the regional nations.
Therefore, the regional nations should work together to find a feasible solution to the issue of regional security.
As the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has recently said, a safe and secure Persian Gulf benefits all regional countries, but if regional security is undermined, all of the countries in the region will suffer.
The foreign players can not resolve the issue and their presence in the region has become a paradox. They claim they have come to bring security and peace to the region, but their presence has undermined the regional security.
The Persian Gulf region and the Middle East are currently faced with many serious security challenges like the presence of foreign forces, terrorist groups, state-sponsored terrorism, killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, the Zionist regime’s aggressions, movements aimed at provoking religious and ethnic divisions, attempts aimed at poisoning the regional relations, and promotion of Iranophobia and Islamophobia.
As the Supreme Leader has stated, the solution to all these issues is the promotion of regional cooperation.
Maintenance of security in the Persian Gulf through cooperation of the littoral states is a realistic and responsible security plan.
The expansion of regional cooperation in economic, commercial, environmental, cultural, and social areas can facilitate the establishment of lasting peace and security in the region.
If the foreigners leave this region, the countries themselves can overcome the challenges facing the region with a reliance on their own capabilities and capacities.
But unfortunately a misguided security policy by some regional countries has prepared the ground for a military presence of foreigners in the region, and this presence acts as a constant destabilizing factor.
As the last point it should be mentioned that any security plan for the region should be drawn up with cooperation of all regional countries, otherwise if such a plan excludes any country it will prove ineffective and inefficient.
(This text is a short translation of an article written by Hossein Amir Abdollahian, director of the Foreign Ministry Department for the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. The article was first published on Monday