Tehran: Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad warned "corrupt" powers on Thursday against
destabilising the Gulf as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates
visited the United Arab Emirates.
"We must ensure our own security in the Persian Gulf,
which is the Gulf of friendship and brotherhood," Ahmadinejad
said in a speech in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas broadcast by
state television.
"The Iranian people will not allow corrupt world powers
to create unrest in the Persian Gulf," said Ahmadinejad,
alluding to the Western troop presence in the region.
"What are you doing in our region?, Why have you sent
your armies to our area? If you think you can control the oil
of Iraq and the Persian Gulf, you are mistaken. The youth of
our region will cut off your hands."
With US troops in most of its neighbours, Iran has
repeatedly called for a withdrawal of all foreign forces from
the region.
During a visit to neighbouring Afghanistan yesterday,
Ahmadinejad told a joint news conference with his counterpart
Hamid Karzai that he did "not see the presence of foreign
military forces in Afghanistan as a solution for peace
in Afghanistan."
"The question is what are you doing here in this region?"
he asked in allusion to the US defence secretary who was in
Afghanistan visiting the troops.
"You are 12,000 kilometres away on the other side of the
world. You are on the other side of the world. What are you
doing here? This is a serious question."
PTI
