TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has criticized the construction of artificial islands in the Persian Gulf.

“The construction of artificial islands has environmental impacts on the Persian Gulf region,” Mottaki said in an address to the 19th International Conference on the Persian Gulf, which opened in Tehran on Monday.
Experts from Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Egypt, Romania, France, Germany, China, India, Russia, and five other foreign countries are participating in the two-day event, which is being sponsored by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
Mottaki said the Persian Gulf is important because it is an international shipping route and because the region possesses vast energy resources.
Foreign forces trying to create insecurity in Persian Gulf
Mottaki also said that extra-regional powers are greedily eyeing the region and are attempting to create insecurity and to encourage regional countries to distrust each other in order to gain control of the region’s resources.
The Iranian foreign minister stated that the instability and problems in the region are caused by a number of factors, namely the presence and interference of foreign forces in the region, the massive arms sales, the support for extremist groups, and the efforts to sow discord between regional ethnic groups.
He pointed to the expansionist policies Israel is pursuing in the Persian Gulf region, saying, “The presence of the Zionist regime has been interconnected with insecurity and instability in the region, and U.S. officials are pursuing their foreign policy based on the (Zionist) regime’s security.”
He also attributed the extremism and terrorism in the Middle East to the discriminatory policies foreign countries are implementing in the region.
Regional cooperation necessary to solve Persian Gulf’s problems
The Iranian foreign minister insisted that the problems of the Persian Gulf region must be resolved through regional cooperation.
Iran has presented its proposal for a regional security treaty to regional nations, he said, adding that Tehran believes that there are two approaches for resolving the problems facing the region.
One approach was devised by extra-regional countries that seek to create discord between regional nations, and the other approach envisages regional cooperation, he observed.
Iran is also ready to cooperate with neighboring countries to create a secure environment for economic activities in the region, he added.
Yemen can solve its own problems
Mottaki said the interference of foreign countries in the Yemen conflict has only increased insecurity in the region.
Tehran believes that Sanaa is able to resolve the current crisis through negotiations without the interference of other countries, he added.
The conflict between the Yemeni government and Houthi fighters in northern Yemen began in 2004. It intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush Shia Houthi fighters in the northern province of Saada.
Regional meeting on dust pollution being organized
Mottaki also announced that a regional meeting will be held in the near future to discuss ways to tackle the region’s dust pollution problem.
He called Saudi Arabia the major source of regional dust pollution and said Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan are other sources of dust pollution.
Tehran to host trilateral meeting on Afghanistan crisis
Mottaki said that Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan plan to hold another trilateral meeting on the crisis in Afghanistan in Tehran in the near future.
Tehran is devising some regional approaches to deal with the crisis in Afghanistan, he stated.
He also asked certain countries, which claim they are helping Afghanistan resolve its problems, to support Tehran’s approaches.
Major powers pursuing double-standard policy toward Iran
Elsewhere in his remarks, Mottaki criticized the major powers for adopting double-standard policies toward Iran’s nuclear program.
He cited the fact that nothing is done about Israel’s hundreds of nuclear warheads and the nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and the Zionist regime, while illegal restrictions on the use of nuclear energy are imposed on Iran, which is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.