TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Friday that neighbors made a “strategic mistake” by allowing the United States to enter the region.

“Countries in the region are responsible for establishing security in the region and allowing the United States entering the region is a strategic mistake by the neighbors,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a visit to a naval industrial facility run by the Defense Ministry in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

Hatami also noted that security in the Persian Gulf region is a common interest for all the regional countries.

Iran will make any effort to make the Persian Gulf, especially the Strait of Hormuz, safe, the defense minister insisted.

“If the Persian Gulf is safe, all the regional countries will benefit. However, if the Persian Gulf becomes unsafe, all the regional countries will be unsafe,” the defense chief remarked.

‘Army to receive Saba minesweeper soon’

Hatami also said that Saba minesweeper will be delivered to the Army in near future.

He said the minesweeper will begin to detect and counter the threat by naval mines in regional waters.

NA/PA