Persian Gulf tensions Archives - Iran News Daily

Iran Armed Forces General Dismisses Trump’s Threat

reporter 1222 — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 08:22:25 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A senior spokesman for the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces shrugged off the US president’s recent comments about a naval confrontation with Iran, warning that the Americans will receive a hard slap in the face for the merest violation of Iran’s territorial waters.

Speaking in a televised program on Tuesday, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi lashed out at the US for causing a disturbance in the Persian Gulf and the regional countries.

He also dismissed US President Donald Trump’s recent threat that the US Navy will fire at Iranian boats as part of a “psychological warfare” with the purpose of attracting public attention ahead of the US presidential election.

Last week, Trump tweeted that he has directed the US navy to fire upon Iranian “gunboats” that “harass” US ships at sea.

General Shekarchi warned the US to think about the consequences of such an action, saying, “The Americans must have seen (it before and know well) that if they take the smallest act of aggression against the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters or the interests of our people, they would receive a slap harder than before.”

“It’s no joke when it comes to defending our country,” the general stressed.

Taking a swipe at the US for violating the international law and creating problems in the region, the Iranian military official said, “Under such circumstances, if they (the US) make a possible mistake and receive a slap (from Iran), it will be just that they deserve such a slap.”

His comments came after the General Staff of the Iran Armed Forces denounced the presence of American forces in the region as the root cause of insecurity for regional countries, warning that any provocative move by the US will draw a harsh response from Iran’s military forces.

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Lavrov: West exacerbates tensions in Persian Gulf

reporter 1222 — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 11:38:53 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – In a meeting with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West is artificially fuelling tensions in the Persian Gulf.

In May, the US sent its aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East citing an unspecified Iranian “threat” to US interests in the region. Since then, the Persian Gulf has seen a string of dangerous incidents, including tanker sabotage attacks, ship seizures, and drone shootdowns.

Moscow is concerned over increasing tensions in the Persian Gulf, and it sees West attempts to stoke these tensions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

“We see some of our Western colleagues artificially trying to inflame the situation. And Russia and Iran oppose such attempts with a proposal to establish equal, mutually beneficial cooperation in this important region,” Lavrov said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The statement comes after the Pentagon said on Sunday that the US military conducted a spate of strikes targeting five Kata’ib Hezbollah facilities in Syria and Iraq.

Earlier this year, Lavrov stated that Russia calls for a solution to tensions in the Persian Gulf through dialogue and without unfounded accusations.

“Our contribution is the revised Russian concept of collective security in the region presented this summer”, Lavrov said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

In late July, the Russia Foreign Ministry unveiled, amid heightened US-Iran tensions, an updated version of an initiative called Collective Security Concept for the Persian Gulf Region, which proposed the “renouncement of permanent deployment of troops of extra-regional states” in the region.

The concept further promotes multilateralism as the core of a new security system in the region, with Moscow suggesting that a security organization be created that would include Russia, the United States, China, India, the European Union, and other interested parties.

Lavrov, for his part, noted that Moscow hopes that the countries of the Middle East will take a closer look at Russia’s plan to ensure security in the Gulf region in the wake of a drone attack on critical Saudi oil infrastructure late last week.

On 14 September, a drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s oil processing facilities forced the Saudi national oil and gas giant to shut them down, halving the country’s oil production. Although responsibility for the attack was claimed by Houthi rebels, the US and Saudi Arabia pointed the finger at Iran, which refuted all the accusations.

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Regional disputes can be settled possible if US and its allies let

reporter 1222 — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 07:51:13 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – An Iranian lawmaker said that it is possible to arrive at a political solution for regional disputes, provided that other regional states take practical steps and US and Israeli regime stop meddling.

“Positive messages that have been conveyed to the Islamic Republic from some regional countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are welcomed by Iran; if Americans and Zionists don’t interfere and independent countries hold talks with one another, settling regional disputes and issues will not be impossible,” Spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, told ICANA on Monday.

“Iran seeks to settle disputes through dialogue,” he said, adding that President Rouhani’s HOPE initiative was proposed according to this view.

“Military solutions cannot solve differences,” he highlighted, citing Saudi Arabia as an example of failed military policy as “It has been four years since they are stuck in Yemen’s quagmire.”

“Countries should take practical steps in de-escalating tensions to build up trust in Iran; they can at least develop dialogues in different levels to make the situation clear for both sides,” said the MP, adding, “They cannot propose dialogue while beating the drum of military tensions and preparing the region for the presence of foreign forces.”

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Shamkhani: Iran will Respond to Oil Tanker Attack

reporter 1222 — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:02:28 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani warned the parties behind a recent attack on an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea that they will be given a response that would make them regret the move.

In a meeting with Russian President’s Special Envoy on Syria Alexander Lavrentiev on Wednesday, Shamkhani insecurity in international maritime routes was a dangerous factor that could lead to formation of regional crises, especially the recent oil tanker attack.

He also underlined that the Islamic Republic will give a response to the elements behind the recent attack on Iran’s ‘Sabiti’ oil tanker in the Red Sea that would make them regret the move.

He said the perpetrators sought to create a new wave of tensions in the region.

Shamkhani also warned of a new American plot to revive the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group and spread insecurity in the Middle East, calling for vigilance and coordination among the regional countries for combatting the measures that result in instability and insecurity.

He denounced the use of double standards in the war against terrorism, stressing that a main priority in the fight against terrorism must be the settlement of issues in Syria’s Idlib.

Shamkhani voiced opposition to Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria, calling for an immediate end to any measure aggravating regional insecurity and crisis.

“Regional crises, such as those in Syria and Yemen, have no military solution and must be resolved through diplomacy and Syrian-Syrian and Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue,” the Iranian official said.

Any act of aggression and war against the regional countries would serve the destabilizing policies of the US and Israel, Shamkhani stated, adding that people of the countries who have grappled with wars and bloodshed for years could no more stand a new crisis.

For his part, the Russian envoy briefed Shamkhani on the political and military developments in northern Syria as well as Moscow’s negotiations with the warring sides.

Lavrentiev also said that mutual cooperation between Iran and Russia in the political and security spheres would prevent the revival and promotion of terrorism and guarantee sustainable stability and security across the region.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran has found clues as to what happened recently to the Sabiti oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia and has shared them with Pakistan.

“It is an absolute mistake for a country to think that it could create insecurity in the region without receiving a response,” Rouhani warned.

In comments on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said Tehran has gained information confirming that the attack on Sabiti was carried out by a state or a number of states.

“The attack on the Iranian oil tanker has been a complicated measure… and was a state-sponsored action,” Zarif said.

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Saudi elites back Tehran-Riyadh de-escalation efforts

reporter 1222 — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 06:28:08 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran news) – Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, argues that there’s a prevailing spirit of deescalating tensions with Iran among the Saudi elites.

Speaking with ISNA on Tuesday, Falahatpisheh said Iran has been in favor of dialogue with Saudi Arabia for years and it was the Saudis that didn’t come forward, and they are now doing de-escalation efforts

On September 14, as many as 10 drones bombed the Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities run by the Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco.

Although Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities, Saudi Arabia and its allies laid the blame on Iran.

Tehran, however, rejected any involvement.

In another incident on Friday morning, two separate explosions, possibly caused by missile attacks, hit the SABITI oil tanker owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).

According to a statement issued on Friday by the NITC, the explosions took place some 60 miles from the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

The explosions hit the vessel’s hull, causing heavy damages to the ship’s two main tanks, which resulted in an oil spill in the Red Sea.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said on Sunday that Riyadh was not behind the attack.

“We did not engage in such behavior at all. This is not how we operate and that’s not how we did in the past,” al-Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh, according to Reuters.

Falahatpisheh said the attack will face a decisive response by Iran when the right time comes.

Iran is capable of finding those behind the attack and this is a separate issue from the de-escalation efforts to slow the Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions down, the MP added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always announced that it is ready to deescalate the tensions and still is,” he said.

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Senior UAE official in Tehran on unannounced mission

reporter 1222 — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 07:36:57 +0000

National Security Adviser of the United Arab Emirates Tahnoun bin Zayed has paid a visit to Tehran on an undisclosed mission meant to defuse tensions in the Persian Gulf, a senior security source in the UAE told London-based news outlet the Middle East Eye (MEE).

MEE contacted the UAE Embassy media office in London, but did not receive a reply by the time their story about senior UAE official in Tehran was published. Iran News quotes.

The visit by senior UAE official, Zayed, also the younger brother of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, marks the highest-level meeting between Abu Dhabi and Tehran after four tankers off the Emirati port of Fujairah were attacked in May, according to Al Jazeera.

The visit also came after a UAE delegation visited Iran in July to discuss maritime security amid an increase in tensions in the Persian Gulf.

Last month, Abu Dhabi welcomed an initiative by European leaders to ease tension with Iran and open a diplomatic path.

“With persistence, the E3 [Britain, France and Germany] can open up a new channel of communication and establish greater trust,” the UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash wrote in the Financial Times.

“The UAE, Iran and other states can share the [Persian] Gulf as normal neighbors, if not as the best of friends.”

Zayed’s mission comes amid a number of backchannel efforts to facilitate a dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

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Pakistan Seeking to Prevent Iran-Saudi Conflict: Imran Khan

reporter 1222 — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 13:43:28 +0000

Iran-Saudi Conflict

Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Sunday, Khan said the main reason for his trip to Iran was reducing recent tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran News quotes the reports about Pakistan attempts to prevent Iran-Saudi Conflict.

“The main reason for my trip to Iran is that we do not want a new conflict in the region, especially because we, ourselves, were busy fighting for 15 years and lost 70,000 in the war on terror,” he said.

“Iran is our neighbor and has helped us on important occasions and Saudi Arabia is also our friend and has helped us,” the Pakistani premier stated.

Pakistan does not want any conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia and believes that problems should not lead to war but should be resolved through negotiations, he added.

Disputes and conflicts lead to higher oil prices and eventually to the spread of poverty in the region and human casualties, Khan went on to say.

The remarks came after an Iranian oil tanker was hit by two suspected rockets on Friday off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

The oil tanker was 60 miles (97km) from the Saudi port city of Jeddah when the incident took place, media reports said.

Friday’s incident came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia after attacks by Yemeni forces on the kingdom’s oil facilities, with Washington and Riyadh claiming Iran was behind them.

The Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement immediately took credit for the attacks, but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo swiftly accused Iran of being behind the assault, without providing any evidence. Tehran categorically rejected the allegations.

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Iran Welcomes Efforts to Mediate Talks with Saudis

reporter 1222 — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 06:28:25 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran welcomes efforts by intermediaries to mediate talks with Saudis.

“We’ve always been open to discussing anything with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is our neighbor. We’re going to be here together permanently,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told Turkey’s TRT World about talks with Saudis.

“We don’t have any choice but to talk to each other, and we have been open to talking to Saudi Arabia either directly or through intermediaries,” he added.

When asked about the upcoming visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to Tehran, the top diplomat said, “We’ve never rejected any intermediary… We’ve always been open to mediation, and we’ve always been open to direct talks with our Saudi neighbors.”

Khan is likely to visit Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday, weeks after Islamabad said Washington had asked it to mediate with Tehran.

The announcement of the possible visit comes after Khan last month revealed a request by US President Donald Trump, asking the Pakistani leader to help defuse tensions with Iran.

Khan said after a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he was “trying and mediating” and had also spoken with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

Tensions have elevated between Iran and Saudi Arabia since retaliatory attacks by Houthis on Saudi oil facilities on September 14. Saudi Arabia and the US pinned the blame for the Yemeni raids on Tehran. Iran denies any involvement in the attacks.

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