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REUTERS & DPA
DUBAI
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States on Monday of turning the Gulf region into a “matchbox ready to ignite”, according to Al Jazeera television.
Oil tanker traffic passing through the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz has become the focus of a US-Iranian standoff since Washington pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions to strangle Tehran’s oil exports.
After explosions that damaged six tankers in May and June and Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in July, the United States launched a maritime security mission in the Gulf, joined by Britain, to protect merchant vessels.
Zarif, in interview remarks cited by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, said the Strait “is narrow, it will become less safe as foreign (navy) vessels increase their presence in it”.
“The region has become a matchbox ready to ignite because America and its allies are flooding it with weapons,” he said.
Last month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the British tanker, Stena Impero near the Strait for alleged marine violations, two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, accusing it of violating sanctions on Syria.
The tanker dispute has tangled Britain in the diplomatic dispute between the EU’s big powers - which want to preserve the Iran nuclear deal - and the United States which has pushed for a tougher policy on Iran.
Earlier, Zarif said that a US-led maritime security mission in the Strait of Hormuz would be a “source of insecurity.”
The United States has been seeking allies for a naval mission to guarantee freedom of navigation in the region after Iran seized two foreign oil tankers in recent weeks in apparent retaliation for Britain impounding an Iranian tanker in early July.
Britain has agreed to join the US-led naval mission, but other European nations, including Germany, have been reticent for fear of being dragged into an all-out conflict.
European countries have been trying to preserve the 2015 deal, which limited Iran’s nuclear activity so as to make it technically impossible for the Islamic Republic to acquire nuclear weapons. But they have been largely unable to counteract the crippling effect of the reimposed US sanctions, which have led European firms too to pull out of Iran.
“Persian Gulf is vital lifeline and thus nat’l security priority for Iran, which has long ensured maritime security [sic],” Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Mindful of this reality, any extra-regional presence is by definition source of insecurity - despite propaganda. Iran won’t hesitate to safeguard its security,” he added.
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13/08/2019
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