TEHRAN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's defense minister said here on Friday that the United States is the cause of insecurity in the Gulf, official IRNA news agency reported.
The "illegal and aggressive" presence of the U.S. forces in the Gulf has been the source of problems for the regional people, Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on the occasion of Iran's Army Day on Friday.
"We are at our home, and they (Americans) have come from the other end of the world and cause problems by threats and sanctions," Hatami was quoted as saying.
In a tweet on Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also slammed the U.S. presence in the waters to the south of Iran, saying that the U.S. forces have come to the Gulf "7,000 miles away from its borders."
On Thursday, the U.S. Navy said that eleven military vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) conducted "dangerous and provocative actions" near U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in international waters in the Gulf on Wednesday.
