Proposed missile shield in Persian Gulf a U.S.-Israeli plot: Iranian minister

TEHRAN, April 5 (MNA) – Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that the proposed missile defense shield in the Persian Gulf region is a U.S.-Israeli move. “Missile defense shield in the Persian Gulf is an American-Israeli move, and we advise our friends not to enter these fields,” Vahidi told on Wednesday. Iran rejected the plan when it was first proposed because the Islamic Republic believes that this plan will undermine regional security, he added. In a speech to a first multilateral Persian Gulf-U.S. security forum in Riyadh on April 1, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made some remarks about a plan for a missile shield in the Persian Gulf against Iran. U.S. officials have said it is a U.S. “priority” to help the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, build a “regional missile defense architecture” against what they claim a looming ballistic missile threat from Iran.