The US and "the Zionist regime" are scheming in a bid to prompt military and domestic conflicts in the Middle East, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman warns.
"The Americans believe that the first and immediate outcome of a military conflict in the region will be the salvaging of the Zionist regime, Ramin Mehman-Parast said in a convention in Tehran.
The US is "eager to push the Islamic Republic into a military confrontation in the region," he said, but added that Tehran will offer a harsh response to any act of belligerence against it.
- Iran's enemies have already admitted that striking the Islamic Republic will be "stupid and mad," he said.
Meanwhile, a former senior official in Egypt's Navy said that Iran's presence in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean is line with the "Muslim interest," the Iranian semi-official news agency Fars reported Wednesday.
"Iran's military presence in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is not against the interests of the Islamic and Arab world; rather it will serve the interests of the regional states," said ex-General Talat Muslim.