Iran said US administration has and is playing a key role in escalating tensions and crises in certain West Asian countries.
![Iran: US playing ‘key’ role in fueling West Asian tensions Iran: US playing ‘key’ role in fueling West Asian tensions](/files/en/news/2017/3/12/29251_999.jpg)
"US administration has and is playing a key and clear role in fueling tensions, warmongering and escalating security and political suppression in certain West Asian states,’ said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi.
He dismissed the "spiteful” anti-Iran remarks by the head of the US Central Command, saying Washington's "injudicious and incorrect” policies are the root cause of tensions in the Middle East.
He added that injudicious and incorrect US policies have been the main reason behind the volatile, tense and unstable situation in the Middle East region over the past decades and recent years.
The Iranian official continued that "wrong and meddlesome policies of US statesmen” have generated the current tensions in the region.
"These mistakes are themselves a product of US officials’ excessive demands and lack of correct understanding and perception of the strategic and sensitive region of the Middle East and a result of relentless support for the [Israeli] regime occupying Jerusalem al-Quds,” the Iranian spokesperson added.
Addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, General Joseph Votel, the head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), alleged that Iran "aspires to be a regional hegemon and its forces and proxies oppose US interests in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, and seek to hinder achievement of US objectives in Afghanistan and some Central Asian States.”
He claimed that Iran’s "influence is the most significant threat to Middle East Security.”
Qassemi said the unwise and malevolent conducts of the US are the root cause of the establishment of Takfiri terrorism and extremism and the emergence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh are just a small part of the results of these policies.