Iran Blames Regional Insecurities on Deployment of Western Forces in Islamic States

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi frowned at NATO's decision to deploy its missile shield in Turkey, and underlined that the western powers' military presence in Muslim states will merely result in insecurity in those countries.
"We believe that the presence of the Americans and westerners in Islamic countries is troublesome and disturbs security and harms those Muslim states," Vahidi said on Monday night.

He further warned that an aggression against Iran from any part of the region or the world will be given a crushing response.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had earlier called NATO's proposal for the establishment of the new ballistic missile shield in Turkey as "seriously suspicious".

"We think NATO's objective in deploying military forces in the region is seriously suspicious," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told a regular news briefing in October.

"We think the stationing of NATO military forces would disrupt security in the region," he added.

A prestigious research center affiliated to the Iranian parliament cautioned in a report last month that the NATO's defense shield in neighboring Turkey should be viewed as a threat to the Islamic Republic

"Deployment of a part of this missile system in Turkey and near Iran is generally a threat to Iran," the report said.