US officials said on Sunday that the United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf — a waterway crucial for global oil supplies — to counter what it sees as Iran’s growing missile threat.
“We regard these (US) measures as a conspiracy and a ploy by foreign countries to create a sense of Iran phobia,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told state television.
The US deployments include expanded land-based Patriot defensive missile installations in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Mehmanparast attacked Washington for insinuating that Iran should be feared in the region.
“Because they have lost their presence in Iran, they feel they have no foothold and in order to justify their presence they make such an insinuation,” he added.
The United States is making the deployments at a time of tension in a long-running international row over Iran’s nuclear program, with Western powers calling for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Tehran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West did not want to see friendly relations prevail in the region.
“They have always tried to keep the countries of the region weak and their existence dependent on division and insecurity ... Fortunately, there is a good understanding of the enemies’ conspiracies between Tehran and Doha,” Ahmadinejad said at meeting with visiting Qatari Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
On Monday, the US Defense Department said a US attempt to shoot down a ballistic missile mimicking an attack from Iran had failed after a malfunction in a radar built by Raytheon Co.
The unsuccessful $150 million test over the Pacific Ocean coincided with a Pentagon report that Iran had expanded its ballistic missile capabilities and posed a “significant” threat to US and allied forces in the Middle East.
The US missile build-up began under the Bush administration, but has expanded under President Barack Obama.
Officials said it was meant to increase protection for US forces and allies in the Gulf.
Neither the United States nor Israel have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
Diplomats say the United States and three European powers hope to blacklist Iran’s central bank and firms linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps in a new round of UN sanctions.
Iran, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear work is a peaceful drive for energy generation and has vowed to hit back if attacked. It says its missile program is defensive in nature.
“We have friendly ties with all the countries of the region and we are of the opinion that regional security can be realized through these countries’ ... cooperation,” Mehmanparast said. “The more our country’s capability is augmented toward its own defense and that of the countries of the region the more improved regional security will be.”
