Speaker calls for cooperation among Persian Gulf states

Bander Abbas, May 1, IRNA – Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday that cooperation among the Persian Gulf states would serve to utilize potentials of the region. Larijani made the remarks in the 4th National Festival of the Persian Gulf. Larijani said that any challenging approaches will incur loses on the countries, citing the baseless allegations they made about Iranian nuclear program and the consequent sanctions. Economy is among prominent issues in the Persian Gulf region and to the same reasons for many years the Portuguese and the Spaniards entered the region and took advantage of its resources, he said. He regretted that many neighbor states take hasty decisions in making use of existing potentials of the region to the benefit of outsiders. The Persian Gulf region has experienced many ups and downs and presence of foreign ships with nuclear fuel is the roote cause of many challenges in the region, he said. The Persian Gulf states should be vigilant as the losses inflicted on the countries in the region and its people are not negligible, he said. The Persian Gulf region is very important in terms of economy, environment and security due to its geopolitical and geostrategic standing, Larijani said. He deplored stirring tension and waging wars by the arrogant powers in the past decades and said that they fomented unrest in the Persian Gulf region to hamper economic development of the nations situated in the region. Certain countries under pretext to establish democracy and campaign against terrorism, managed to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, but, their measures back fired, he said. Larijani said that certain countries believe that in order to maintain the security of the Persian Gulf region, they should resort to foreign troops. Stability and security to be maintained through regional convergence among countries in the region, he said. One of the issues in the Persian Gulf region is usage of different names for this waterway while the name of Persian Gulf has been registered in historical documents and this has been proved for those who try to ignore the truth, he said. Larijani said that the bullying powers assume that by designation of a fabricated name, they can put more political pressures on Iran. He said that Iran never humiliates its neighbors and always respects them but some very minor countries with short record of history prefer to play with the name of the Persian Gulf to get rid of what they deem self-humiliation. The Islamic awakening will open its path among nations in the region and they are advised to acknowledge he movement, he said. April 30 has been designated as National Day of the Persian Gulf. end