IRGC calls for foreign warships pullout from Persian Gulf

The Aerospace Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Amir Ali Hajizadeh called for the withdrawal of foreign warships from the Persian Gulf, local Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.

The countdown for the withdrawal of foreign warships from the Persian Gulf has started, Hajizadeh was quoted as saying.

The Iranian commander said that regional nations do not need foreign forces' presence in the region and "they themselves can maintain the regional security and stability," said the report.

Hajizadeh said Saturday that Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles in the Iranian Bahman month, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 20.

"We launched two missiles with the range of 1,900 km into the Indian Ocean from the desert area of (Iran's central province of) Semnan," said Hajizadeh.

He told reporters that Iran's missiles have a range of up to 2, 000 km, adding that despite possessing the technology, Tehran does not intend to build longer-range missiles since targets of its enemies are already within the reach of the current missiles, according to local Press TV.

Recently, the Islamic republic carried out a 10-day missile drill.

Iran's ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaeefar said Saturday that Iran is ready to establish security cooperation with Iraq after a pullout of the U.S. troops from Iraq.

"Iran is ready to have security cooperation with Iraq, and supply weapons to the country and train the Iraqi security forces.. . after the departure of U.S. troops," Danaeefar was quoted as saying by Mehr.

The U.S. is scheduled to pull out its remaining forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.

Source: XINHUA