Iran warns certain powers disturbing security in Gulf

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that Iranians would not allow "corrupt powers" to disturb security in the Persian Gulf region, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad said in Iran's southern port city of Bandar Abbas that the presence of foreign countries in the region is the source of insecurity in Iran's neighborhood.

Addressing a crowd in the capital city of Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan, he said that the U.S. presence in its eastern neighbor of Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism has not crushed down terrorism in that country.

He urged the Persian Gulf littoral states to act "vigilantly and provide regional security on their own," the report said.

During his Wednesday visit to Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad strongly criticized U.S. and NATO roles in the country which he said have led to the increase of insecurity in the region.

U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, earlier accused Iran of " playing a double game" of offering friendship to the Afghan government and at the same time giving help to Taliban.

Source: Xinhua