Iranian Defense Minister: US Presence in Gulf ‘Illegal and Aggressive’

Brigadier General Amir Hatami, the Iranian defense minister, said on Friday that US reports of harassment by Iranian vessels are “baseless” and that the American presence in the Gulf, which he termed “illegal and aggressive,” was causing regional insecurity. “What leads to insecurity in the Persian Gulf region is actually the illegal and aggressive presence of the Americans who have come from the other end of the world to our borders and make such baseless claims,” Hatami told reporters in Tehran, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. The US military said Wednesday that 11 ships from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy made close approaches to US Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative”.