- Pezeshkian says US threats aimed at disrupting regional security.
- Iran president urges for “unity and cohesion” of Islamic countries.
- US announces multi-day Air Force exercise in Middle East.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, telling him that US threats against Tehran would only result in instability.
“The threats and psychological operations of the Americans are aimed at disrupting the security of the region and will achieve nothing other than instability for them,” Pezeshkian told the Saudi crown prince, according to his office, after a United States aircraft carrier reached the region.
Pezeshkian told MBS that the “unity and cohesion” of Islamic countries can guarantee “lasting security, stability and peace in the region”.
The Iranian president said that Tehran always welcomed any process, within the framework of international law, that prevents war, Iranian media reported.
The telephonic conversation comes as the US announced a major multi-day Air Force exercise in the Middle East.
The announcement came a day after the US military said the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had arrived in the Middle East, dramatically boosting American firepower in the region.
The exercise will “demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower across” the Middle East, the US Air Force component of Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region, said in a statement.
No date or exact location for the exercise were released.
The protests in Iran started in late December, driven by economic grievances, with huge street demonstrations for several days from January 8.
President Donald Trump had repeatedly warned Iran that if it killed protesters, the US would intervene militarily, and also encouraged Iranians to take over state institutions, saying, “help is on the way.”
But he pulled back from ordering strikes earlier this month, claiming Tehran had halted executions under pressure from Washington.
Iran has also warned of “destructive consequences” if the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU, state media reported, after Italy’s foreign minister urged Brussels to go ahead with the designation.
Rome’s top diplomat Antonio Tajani on Monday said he would propose the idea “in coordination with other partners” at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels later this week.
Tehran summoned Italy’s ambassador to Iran, Paolo Amadei, and condemned Tajani’s remarks as “irresponsible”, warning of “destructive consequences” if the bloc went ahead with the move, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The ministry urged Rome to “reconsider its misguided stance on Iran”, IRNA said.
