Tehran - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the presence of foreign forces creates "insecurity" in the Gulf, after the US ordered the deployment of more troops to the region.
"Foreign forces can cause problems and insecurity for our people and for our region," Rouhani said in a televised speech at an annual military parade, adding that Iran would present to the UN a regional cooperation plan for peace.
Tensions escalated between arch-foes Iran and the United States after devastating September 14 attacks on Saudi oil installations that Washington and Riyadh have blamed on Tehran.
Following the attacks, the United States announced on Friday that it was sending reinforcements to Saudi Arabia at "the kingdom's request".
In his speech on Sunday, Rouhani called on the foreign powers in the Gulf region to "stay away".
"If they're sincere, then they should not make our region the site of an arms race," he said.
"Your presence has always brought pain and misery for the region. The farther you keep yourselves from our region and our nations, the more security there will be for our region."
Rouhani said Iran would present a plan for peace to the United Nations in the coming days.
"In this sensitive and important historical moment, we announce to our neighbours, that we extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood to them," he said.
Jubair: 'We hold Iran responsible'
"We hold Iran responsible because the missiles and the drones that were fired at Saudi Arabia...were Iranian-built and Iranian-delivered," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir told CNN late on Saturday.
"But to launch an attack from your territory, if that is the case, puts us in a different category... this would be considered an act of war." Jubeir told reporters earlier that Riyadh was awaiting the results of a probe, which it has invited international investigators to join, into the Sept. 14 strikes which initially halved Saudi production, the largest-ever assault on oil facilities in the world's top oil exporter.
Riyadh has rejected a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that it carried out the strikes. Washington has blamed Iran, which denies any involvement.
"If they continue along this path, then they risk the possibility of military action," Jubeir said of Tehran.
"But nobody wants war. Everybody wants to resolve this peacefully and the end result has to be an end to Iran's aggressive policies."
Saudi Arabia has called the strikes on Abqaiq and Khurais facilities as a test of global will to preserve international order, and will look to form a united front at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.
"Appeasement with Iran does not work. For example, trying to set up a parallel financial payment system is appeasement.
Trying to give them a line of credit is appeasement. It just emboldens them," said Jubeir.
