Tehran, Aug 23 (IANS) Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has said that Iran has received “numerous” messages from neighbouring countries about “shaping new security arrangements and economic cooperation” in the region.
In a post on social media platform X on Saturday (local time), Qalibaf said the United States “put the security of every single one of its allies at such risk through bullying and pure disregard for their interests for the sake of Israel.”
“A homegrown, independent (regional) order is what will actually deliver peace and security,” he added.
The United States and Israel launched joint airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and US military bases in regional countries, reports Xinhua news agency.
Media reports, citing regional officials, said Gulf Arab countries were frustrated with Washington for initiating the war while failing to shield them.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei has warned that any country participating in the US economic war against Iran will be considered an “enemy” by Tehran.
The remarks came after US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday “the most crushing economic operation ever taken” against any country providing a lifeline to Iran, describing it as “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the remarks on Saturday in an interview with state-run IRIB TV.
He said Iran would first negotiate with such countries and ask them to stay out of the conflict, but warned that if they refuse, Tehran will strike their interests, and that if surrounding countries choose to join the US siege, Iran “will not let even a single drop of oil be exported from the Strait of Hormuz.”
He noted that Iran has learned how to bypass US sanctions and continue oil sales over the years.
Rezaei also repeated that the Hormuz Strait will remain closed unless the United States fulfils its commitments under the Iran-US peace memorandum of understanding signed in June, adding that Washington must act first this time.
–IANS
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