Washington, Tel Aviv use terrorism to gain influence, says Iran 

Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami has proclaimed that the US and Israel are using terrorism as a tool to gain more influence.

The Iranian Ministry of Defence stated on Thursday that Hatami participated in a meeting of defence ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), held in the Indian city of Bangalore.

In a speech he delivered during the meeting, the Iranian official pointed out that his country considers the Indian Ocean a gateway to the world, stressing that countries located on the coasts of the Indian Ocean should benefit fairly from the basin resources.

Hatami also referred to the assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Qasem Soleimani and Deputy Head of the Popular Mobilisation Forces Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, in a US raid near Baghdad on 3 January, 2020, stating: “The United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) use terrorism as a tool to increase their influence whenever they get a chance.”

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