TEHRAN – The armed forces of the Islamic Republic will not let the Persian Gulf to become a playground to create insecurity in the region, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday.

He was making a reference to the U.S. plan to create a so-called security coalition in the Persian Gulf. “This is a new plot to plunder the region,” Larijani said, according to Tasnim.

He made the remarks at a military ceremony held in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas to mark the Sacred Defense Week, which is the anniversary of the beginning of Iraq’s war against Iran 39 years ago.

Larijani also said Iran is a friend of regional nations while Israel is the main enemy of Muslim states.
“The Iranian nation and its self-sacrificing armed forces view all Muslim nations as their brother and consider those countries’ might the might of Islam, and regard the usurping Zionist regime (Israel) as a cancerous tumor in the region,” the top parliamentarian said, according to Press TV. 

He added, “The main reason behind insecurity in the region and the main enemy of Muslims is this very regime (Israel).”

The parliament speaker also lauded the Iranian armed forces as a national and regional asset, saying the armed forces have succeeded in establishing security in Iran and the region.

“The regional countries themselves are capable of establishing security in the region,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday reiterated Washington’s plan to build a maritime coalition in the Persian Gulf to deter what he called Iranian threats.

He was speaking after talks with Saudi and Emirati leaders over the Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities that Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran. Iran denies any involvement in the attack.

The Yemeni forces on September 14 launched drone attacks on two plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, including the world’s biggest petroleum processing facility.

The attacks came in retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition’s continued aggression on the Arabian Peninsula country.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi-led war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

MH/PA