PG States Must Spend Oil Income on Development, Not Arms Purchase
He said in his address to the International Conference on "Persian Gulf Under the New Arrangements", Rouhani said that the Persian Gulf states are expected to seize opportunities to bring about development and scientific and economic cooperation in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran believes that the Persian Gulf region can be turned into a big power center only through understanding, cooperation and removal of misunderstanding among regional states and moving toward formation of strategic alliance, Rouhani said.
The SNSC secretary said that the Persian Gulf is among the most important regions in the world and despite international developments in the past several decades, the Persian Gulf has not lost its vital role. Unfortunately, he said, the region has been the target of world powers' covetous eyes.
Rouhani said that 70 percent of the world's resources is located in the Persian Gulf and the region holds 28 percent of the world's gas reserves.
He said that the border and territorial disputes in the continental shelf both on land and at sea is the number one problem facing the Persian Gulf states. The territorial disputes created by colonial powers have caused imposed restrictions on some Persian Gulf states.
The SNSC secretary said that the victory of the Islamic Revolution had been a cause of concern of Israel, but the Iran-Iraq war and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait eased the Israeli concern, he said.
Rouhani said that presence of foreign powers in the Persian Gulf in the past 100 years has been the number two problem of the Persian Gulf states, adding that the world powers like the U.S. always seeks dominance over the region.
He said that the U.S. adopted the policy of "dual containment" against Iran and Iraq and pushed Iran and Iraq into a war in a bid to undermine the two countries' strength in the Persian Gulf.
He said that the arms race is the number three problem of the Persian Gulf states to an extent that regional states have become an arsenal of weapons. In 1980-1992 period, Saudi Arabia signed military pacts worth $152 billion, Kuwait signed contracts worth $60 billion and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inked contract valued at $20 billion.
Rouhani said that since the regional states did not acquire the technological know-how in order to use modern military hardware, the foreign militarymen have always been present in the region. The presence of foreign forces have never brought stability to the Persian Gulf region, he said.
He said that foreign powers must leave the Persian Gulf to prepare the ground for cooperation among the regional states.
Rouhani called on the Persian Gulf states to remove misunderstanding, embark on confidence building and launch joint investment projects as a step toward cooperation and formation of alliance.
He recommended the regional states not to evaluate each other from the view of the Western mass media and rather resort to direct contacts.
The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the security of the Persian Gulf should be provided by the regional states themselves, the SNSC secretary said.
Rouhani said Iran has no covetous eye on the a single inch of the territory of regional states, adding that Iran has proved its goodwill in the past 22 years and of course it will not tolerate any aggression on its own soil.
Iran has said once and again that it is not seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction and it will never use its weapons against the brotherly and friendly states of the region, he said.
Rouhani said that any division between Iran and the regional states would only please Israel which is out to sow discord among regional states. (IRNA)