New paradigm taking shape in the Persian Gulf region: Iran FM

According to The Iran Project, During a keynote speech made to the 8th Conference on the History of Iran’s Foreign Policy in the capital, Tehran, on Tuesday, Araghchi said the Islamic Republic of Iran has pursued a strategy of providing maximum security in the Persian Gulf by relying on native forces.

Iran’s role in providing security in the waterway has been unparalleled, He said.

Araghchi said the Persian Gulf has been “one of the most important” waterways and civilizational regions of the world throughout history and has thus both acquired strategic importance and attracted much foreign interference.

With an understanding of the Persian Gulf’s strategic significance and the destructive role of alien forces, the Islamic Republic has pursued the objective of providing sustainable stability and security in the waterway enabling freedom of shipping under its defense doctrine, the minister said.

“In spite of Tehran’s principled policies, certain extra-regional powers have been attempting to keep the Persian Gulf a flashpoint of crises and conflict in order to meet their illegitimate interests,” Araghchi said.

He said those powers have tried to keep the waterway in a state of perpetual conflict by militarizing it and selling billions of dollars worth of weapons in the region.

The Iranian foreign minister said that the policy of excluding Iran from all regional arrangements and the all-out economic war on the Islamic Republic are parts of that struggle by extra-regional powers.

That policy, he said, has not only failed but also the Persian Gulf is about to enter a new era of regional cooperation thanks to active diplomacy by Iran. “Happily, we are witnessing a new paradigm taking shape that could herald an era of flourishing inclusive relations.”

Reporter : Editorial of The Iran Project