TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday called on the neighboring states to avoid joining a US-Israeli project for deploying a missile shield in the Persian Gulf.
“This missile defense shield (in the Persian Gulf) is a US-Israeli project and everyone should pay attention to the fact that anyone who gets involved with this project is, in fact, implementing the US and Israel’s plot,” he said.
“Since the very beginning we have rejected this project as we saw it against the regional security, and we have recommended our friends not to enter such fields (of activity),” he noted.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Saturday promoted the missile shield idea at a Persian Gulf-US security forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Washington has been seeking hard to portray Iran as a threat to the regional states, specially the Arab countries on the rims of the Persian Gulf, but many Arab leaders in the region stress that they do not see Iran as a threat.
US officials have said it is their “priority” to help the six Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) states build “regional missile defense architecture” against Iran.
Clinton stressed Washington’s “unwavering” commitment to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, all longstanding US allies.
In reply, Iranian officials said that the US plan to establish a missile shield in the Persian Gulf is a source of “tension”.
