An International affairs expert, Sabah Zanganeh has termed
the United States “an uninvited guest” in the Persian Gulf region. “The United
States’ security and military forces have understood that Iran is serious about
defending its interests. Iran is the owner, but the United States is an
uninvited guest. If any incident occurs, it is this guest who will be harmed,”
he told IRNA in an interview published on Tuesday.
Zanganeh added that the United States knows that it should
not make a mistake and endanger regional security. “It was a time when Portugal
and Britain were in the Persian Gulf region, but they left. The United States
must learn a lesson and leave the region,” he noted.
President Hassan Rouhani said on 29th April 29
that the US must know that the waterway in the West Asia region is the Persian
Gulf and not the New York or Washington Gulf.
“They must understand the situation by the name of the place
and the people who have protected it for thousands of years and stop hatching
plots against the Iranian people,” Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting.
He said, “The United States has witnessed the Iranian
people’s success in all areas and also in protecting the Persian Gulf waterway.
Our soldiers in armed forces, the Guards [the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps], Basij, Army and police forces have always protected and will protect
the Persian Gulf.”
Rouhani also described the Persian Gulf as very “important”
and “sensitive” region.
“The Persian Gulf belongs to the Iranian nation and has
always been and will be the Persian Gulf,” the president noted.
IRGC Navy chief Alireza Tangsiri also said on 27th
April that the United States is an “uninvited guest” in the Persian Gulf
region.
The chief of the Iranian Army Command and General Staff
College (DAFOOS) has said that the United States is an “uninvited guest” in the
Persian Gulf region.
“The Persian Gulf is like a big old house which has eight
doors and independent rooms and also a yard which is shared by these eight
neighbors. If a guest comes, he has to leave after a while, because a guest
should not stay permanently,” General Hossein Valivand told reporters on the
sidelines of a ceremony held to mark the national day of the Persian Gulf.
Valivand noted that Iran wants the US and all other foreign
forces to leave the Persian Gulf region.
“We guarantee security of the Persian Gulf by the Army’s
Navy and the Guards [the IRGC] and also by cooperation with other neighbors and
the countries we have formed a military coalition with,” he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on 20th
April that foreign forces’ presence in the region is the source of insecurity,
instability, and tension.
“We consider presence of the foreign forces, especially
forces of the United States, in the region a source of tension, instability,
and insecurity. Their presence is illegal and illegitimate. This is our region
and our armed forces must be able to patrol without hurdle,” Mousavi said in a
press conference held through video conference.
He said, “This issue led to our forces’ response. It has
been for thousands of years that Iran is in this region and the regional
security must be provided by the regional countries, especially Oman which is
in the Strait of Hormuz region.”
The spokesman urged foreign forces to leave the region and
not make Iran give them warning.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Twitter
page on April 23 that “US forces have no business 7,000 miles away from home,
provoking our sailors off our OWN Persian Gulf shores.”
It came after US President Donald Trump said he had ordered
the US Navy to destroy Iranian boats “if they harass” US ships in the Persian
Gulf.
“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and
destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Trump
said in a tweet on 22nd April 22.
The IRGC has rejected US description of the Iranian boats’
behavior in the Persian Gulf, saying such a depiction is like “Hollywood
scenarios”.
