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Iranian leader says Tehran has defused regional threats
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gestures during a meeting with religious poets in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2018. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Leader.ir
20/03/2018
LONDON (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Iran had defused all regional threats against the country, as tension rises between Tehran and Washington over the influence of the Islamic Republic in the Middle East.
In an Iranian New Year message, Khamenei did not specify any particular threat. But he appeared to be mainly refering to the Islamic State militant group, which Iranian forces have confronted in Syria and Iraq as well as at home.
Shi'ite Iran has also been locked in a regional power struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia which has extended to the war in Yemen and to Lebanon.
"Last year, the Islamic Republic defused regional threats - one of their aims was to harm the Islamic Republic - and turned them into opportunities," Khamenei said in a broadcast on state television.
"These threats did not damage our country, but turned into opportunities,"
In November, Tehran declared the end of Islamic State and hailed the thousands of Iranian soldiers killed fighting against it in Syria and Iraq.
Iran has provided critical military support to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, helping his army regain swathes of land from rebels and militants in recent months.
"Our humble soldiers and tireless diplomats were able to stand with the people of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to establish stability and increase security for the region," President Hassan Rouhani said in his New Year message.
Khamenei had also called the defeat of the Islamic State, a blow against Israel, the United States and their allies, an allusion to Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who sees Iran as a threat to regional stability in the Middle East, has pledged to work with Gulf Arab states and Israel to curb what they say are Tehran’s attempts to extend its influence in the region.
Trump sent greetings on Monday to Iranians celebrating the New Year's holiday known as Nowruz but used the message to attack Iran's government, particularly its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump has threatened to pull the United States out of the 2015 agreement between world powers and Tehran which limited Iran's nuclear programmes.
The New Year, or Nowruz, is Iran's most important national event, which involves large family gatherings, gifts for children and vacations.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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