Regional countries able to maintain security: Iranian admiral

TEHRAN,Sept.11(MNA) – The commander of the Iranian Navy said that regional countries are able to maintain security in the region through cooperation and Iran believes that the presence of extra-regional countries in the Persian Gulf only leads to further trouble and insecurity. Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari stated that extra-regional forces claim that they have entered the region to promote security in the region but Iran has repeatedly announced that presence of foreigners in the region has only caused “insecurity and the environmental degradation.” “If all regional countries join hands and unite, there will be no need for the presence of extra-regional forces in the Persian Gulf, and hence we will not witness the environmental degradation of the region anymore and no other problems will be created either,” he said. Commenting on an intensive campaign launched by certain Western countries that the presence of foreign forces in the Persian Gulf is a necessity, Sayyari said the extra-regional countries’ decision to deploy their aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf is just a “political maneuver”. However, the Iranian Navy has a close eye on the moves of the aircraft carriers in the region, he noted.