In a Thursday speech, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed all regional problems on Zionism and “America’s arrogance,” and called upon regional powers to “stand together, be together and rid the region of the aggressor’s presence.”
Rouhani also stressed that Iran’s military forces are not a threat to the national interests of countries in the region, and that Iran actually wants “regional security and stability” and for the sovereignty of states to be respected and terrorism to be eliminated.
The US recently announced that it will designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC is a military branch created after the 1979 Iranian Revolution with the aim of defending the country’s theocratic system. The move was supported by Israel and Saudi-Arabia, the two main adversaries of Iran in the region. Iran is also frustrated with US sanctions on the country that were reimposed last year after the US pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Rouhani has described the sanctions as a “crime against humanity.”
Read more: Iran’s Hassan Rouhani urges regional powers to ‘unite against US’
