Iran Warns Saudi Arabia and UAE Over US Arms Deals

A senior Iranian lawmaker has accused the West of using propaganda against Iran to step up arms sales to other Middle East countries.

Aleddin Boroujerdi warned Iran's neighbours about their alliance with the US after Washington announced a $3.5 billion (£2.25 billion) arms sale to the UAE.

"The Iranophobia policy of the West, particularly the US, has been in place since the victory of the Islamic Revolution [of Iran]," in 1979, Boroujerdi, the chairman of Iran's Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy said.

"Since the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is [based on] friendship with its neighbours, we call on these countries not to exhaust their national resources for the arms market of Western countries, particularly the US," he added.

Boroujerdi cited Iran as an example for other countries in the region to follow. Iran had acquired state-of-the-art armaments despite US opposition, he said.

The comments can be seen as a direct response to the recent arms deal between Washington and the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia, which announced a $29.4 billion arms deal with the US.

Tensions between Iran and its neighbours escalated when Tehran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the West applied new sanctions.

The strait is a crucial route for the oil trade, linking the Gulf oil-producing states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with the Indian Ocean.