TEHRAN - The Iranian deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that trans-regional powers are in the Persian Gulf region under the pretext of preserving peace and stability but they are in fact after their own strategic objectives. 

“Several security plans have thus far been offered for security in the Persian Gulf but we have not reached a suitable result so far. We do not have any specific security structure in the Persian Gulf region,” Abbas Araghchi said, addressing the Tehran Dialogue Forum. 

The forum, with a focus on security in the Persian Gulf, opened in the Iranian capital on Tuesday morning with the participation of a number of foreign officials, ambassadors, and experts. 

“The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council is not a comprehensive organization because Iran is not among its member states. If we lack a comprehensive structure in a region we will not enjoy specific security arrangements,” the senior diplomat said.

Pointing to the barriers facing materialization of a suitable security plan in the region, he said, “The first reason is the presence of trans-regional players which have been deployed in the region under the pretext of maintaining peace and stability in the Persian Gulf region but are actually after their own strategic objectives.”

“The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council is not a comprehensive organization because Iran is not among its member states. If we lack a comprehensive structure in a region we will not enjoy specific security arrangements,” the senior diplomat said.

He added, “The Persian Gulf’s security is not separable. Security should be for all or for none. This is comprehensive security.”  

Addressing the UN General Assembly late in September, President Hassan Rouhani unveiled Iran's new initiative for the establishment of peace and security in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

"The goal of the Coalition for Hope is to promote peace, stability, progress, and welfare for all the residents of the Strait of Hormuz region, and to enhance mutual understanding and peaceful and friendly relations amongst them," Rouhani told the delegates at the UN.

"This initiative includes various venues for cooperation, such as the collective supply of energy security, freedom of navigation and free transfer of oil and other resources to and from the Strait of Hormuz and beyond," he added.

"The Coalition for Hope is based on important principles such as compliance with the goals and principles of the United Nations, mutual respect, equal footing, dialog and understanding, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, inviolability of international borders, the peaceful settlement of all disputes, and more importantly, the two fundamental principles of non-aggression and non-interference in the domestic affairs of each other. The presence of the United Nations is necessary for the creation of an international umbrella in support of the Coalition for Hope," Rouhani underlined.

MJ/PA