Expansion of US missile presence in PG states, political cheat

Tehran, Feb 2, IRNA – Expansion of US missile presence in some of the Persian Gulf states is a puppet show and a political cheat, Speaker of Iran's Parliament Ali Larijani said Tuesday.

He made the remarks in his address to the Majlis open session.

The speaker noted that boosting US missile presence in four Persian Gulf littoral states was “an excuse to prepare the grounds for expanding Washington’s presence in the region at the cost of other states.”

The United States has reportedly expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Persian Gulf to counter what it claimed to be Iran's growing missile threat.

Referring to Iran's policy in dealing with other nations, Larijani asked, “When, in the past 31 years, has it ever happened that Iran attacked any of its neighboring states or any other countries in the region?”

He warned regional states to avoid being deceived by the US anti-Iran policies and also stressed that Tehran was pursuing a strategy of uniting Muslim states regardless of their Shiite or Sunni faiths./end