Iran: regional security based on coordination between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Iranian Defense Minister Admiral Ali Shamakhani considered the visit of the Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz on Saturday to Tehran as asserting "the Saudi will" to strengthen relations with Iran. The Iranian minister added that the main entrance to establishing a regional security system lies in maintaining Saudi-Iranian coordination.

In a statement to the London-based al-Hayat daily issued today, the Iranian defense minister said that, "The Iranian military force following the revolution has not made any attacks and pursued no other policy but just completing its defense capabilities in a way to deter aggressions that might be launched against it following the war with Iraq."

The statements made by the Iranian minister came in reply to the concerns shown by the GCC in its periodic statements concerning the Iranian armament.

Admiral Shamakhani defended the naval exercises recently carried out near the border with the UAE by Iran saying: "We are making several maneuvers every year, and they [the GCC states] also do the same. We carry out maneuvers in which only our forces take part. In our last military exercises observers from Arab states took part."