The United States should mind that the Persian Gulf is not called the gulf of New York or Washington for a good reason when it considers its military presence in the region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2020) The United States should mind that the Persian Gulf is not called the gulf of New York or Washington for a good reason when it considers its military presence in the region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday.
"The Americans should know that the name of this gulf is 'Persian Gulf' and not the Gulf of New York and Washington, and this nation has been - and is - the guardian of the security of this waterway for thousands of years and they should not conspire against this nation every day," Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting, as quoted in a press release on his website.
The statement comes on the heels of a new spiral of escalation in the region.
On April 15, the US Central Command said that 11 vessels of the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) had conducted "dangerous and provocative" maneuvers around US warships in the Persian Gulf for roughly an hour. The Iranian military denounced it as a "Hollywood plot," claiming, in turn, an earlier incident with two consecutive provocative intercepts by US vessels of an Iranian warship.
Last week, US President Donald Trump instructed the navy to destroy any Iranian vessels that approach and intimidate US warships at sea. The Iranian military responded by pledging reciprocity, while Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the US military should stay out of the Persian Gulf altogether.
