By Mehr News

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran rejected a US demand for setting up a direct military hotline between the two countries' armies, the Iranian Supreme Leader's top military aide said Sunday.

"The US had requested Iran for setting up a direct hotline and Iran rejected the request," senior Military Aide to the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi announced on Sunday.

The US asked Tehran last year for establishing a hotline between the military forces of the two arch foes in a move to avoid unwanted confrontations in the Persian Gulf. Tehran turned down the request a few days later.

It is not clear if Safavi's remarks pointed to the same US demand or if the latter has made a second request for the establishment of such a direct military line between the two sides.

The US defense officials announced in 2011 that Pentagon was considering setting up a direct military hotline with Iran after a series of close encounters between US and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's top military commanders quickly rejected the offer, arguing that the offer was basically wrong because the region's affairs and security "are not at all related to the Americans who have travelled half the world to reach the Persian Gulf."

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Ali Fadavi was the first Iranian top commander who rejected the US request for establishing the "red phone" link, saying the US itself would reject such an offer if Iran deployed around its coastal water.

"We would establish direct contact with the United States if we would ever go to the Gulf of Mexico," he had said.

 

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