IRAN ASKS WEST TO LEAVE PERSIAN GULF AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS
TEHRAN: Iran’s president called on Western powers to leave the security of the Persian Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran, criticising a new Us-led coalition patrolling the region’s waterways as nationwide parades showcased the Islamic Republic’s military arsenal.
President Hassan Rouhani separately promised to unveil a regional peace plan at this week’s upcoming high-level meetings at the United Nations, which comes amid heightened tensions in West Asia following a series of attacks, including a missile-and-drone assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.
The US alleges Iran carried out the September 14 attack on the world’s largest oil processor in the kingdom and an oil field, which caused oil prices to spike by the biggest percentage since the 1991 Gulf War. Iran denies being responsible and has warned any retaliatory attack targeting it will result in an “allout war”.
Rouhani spoke from a riser at the parade in Tehran on Sunday, with uniformed officers from the country’s military and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard beside him. The cleric later watched as goose-stepping soldiers carrying submachine guns and portable missile launchers drove past as part of “Holy Defence Week,” which marks the start of the Iran-iraq war in 1980.
Rouhani said Iran was willing to “extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood” to Persian Gulf nations and was “even ready to forgive their past mistakes”.
“Those who want to link the region’s incidents to the Islamic Republic of Iran are lying like their past lies that have been revealed,” the president said. “If they are truthful and really seek security in the region, they must not send weapons, fighter jets, bombs and dangerous arms to the region.” Rouhani added that the US and Western nations should “distance” themselves from the region.
IRAN TO RELEASE UK-FLAGGED TANKER
Stena Impero, the British-flagged tanker detained by Iran on July 19, will be released soon, an Iranian maritime official said on Sunday. It was detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations, two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar. That vessel was released in August.