President Hassan Rouhani said Iran is open to the idea of a joint wide-ranging cooperation arrangement with its Persian Gulf neighbors, cautioning them about the US ulterior motives behind its regional policy.
"Iran has always been and will be a good neighbor for you," Rouhani said in remarks directed at the neighboring Persian Gulf states.
"Do not allow yourself to be misled by others and do not let foreigners and ill-wishers persuade you to chant hostile slogans. They do not care about your interests and are merely seeking to sell you their weapons at a high price in return for your cheap oil," he was quoted as saying by his official website.
"All countries around the Persian Gulf, from India and Pakistan to Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iraq can consider the establishment of a big alliance in the region for cooperation in the areas of trade, tourism, industry, and energy," he said in a Wednesday public address in Hormozgan Province, which is located on Iran's Persian Gulf coast.
He was in the southern province to unveil 15 projects and break ground on Phase 3 of Shahid Rajaee Port, Iran's biggest container port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.
Rouhani's offer appeared particularly aimed at Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies that have aligned themselves with Washington's hostile Iran policy.
***No Need for Outside Help
"We do not need outsiders to ensure the security of our region. We announce that we stand ready to enter negotiations with neighboring countries and our friends over regional security arrangements," he added.
It is not the first time Iranian officials make such public overtures to be spurned by Saudi leaders, who decided to sever bilateral ties in January 2016 in response to the storming of their diplomatic posts in Tehran and Mashhad by demonstrators angered over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, without due process of law.
Riyadh and Tehran support rival sides involved in conflicts raging across the region.
Saudis have signed billions of dollars in arms purchase deals with the administration of hawkish US President Donald Trump.
Both Saudi Arabia and the US are critical of Iran's historic nuclear deal with major powers and wary of its growing regional clout.
Trump has cast doubt over the fate of the deal by threatening not to extend Iran sanctions waivers in May, as required every 120 days, if the European signatories and the US Congress fail to cooperate with his administration to tighten the agreement and impose new curbs on Tehran's missile program and regional role, among his other excessive demands.
***Purely Defensive
Rouhani ruled out any negotiations on Iran's military power, which he and other Iranian officials insist is of a purely defensive nature.
"We will not negotiate over our defense power. We will have our youths produce whatever we need to defend our homeland and will not seek anyone's permission for that."
Rouhani's reassertion of Iran's position came after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed on Tuesday that Iran's "ballistic missile ambitions" were very worrying and ran counter to a UN resolution,
Le Drian, speaking at a news conference after talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, said it was necessary to avoid the Iranian ballistic program becoming a factor that allegedly threatened its neighbors, Reuters reported.
