Hassan Rouhani said Tehran extends its ‘hand of friendship and brotherhood’ towards co-operating with regional nations
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday said that Iran would present a regional peace plan to the United Nations at the General Assembly in New York this week, after the attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and the US order to deploy more troops to the region in response.
“In this sensitive and important historical moment, we announce to our neighbours, that we extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood to them,” he said.
In his speech on Sunday, Mr Rouhani called on the foreign powers in the Gulf region to “stay away”.
“Foreign forces can cause problems and insecurity for our people and for our region,” he said in a televised speech at an annual military parade.
“If they’re sincere, then they should not make our region the site of an arms race,” he continued. “Your presence has always brought pain and misery for the region. The farther you keep yourselves from our region and our nations, the more security there will be for our region.”
His comments came as tensions have escalated between arch-foes Iran and the United States after the devastating September 14 attacks on Saudi oil installations that Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran.
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