Rouhani says Iran is ready to face the United States after a military attack

DUBAI (Reuters) – President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that Iran is ready to face the United States and its Gulf allies in the aftermath of an Iranian military parade that killed 25 people, including 12 members of the Revolutionary Guards.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the annual US General Assembly in New York, Rouhani accused the US-backed Arab Gulf states of providing financial and other support. military to anti-government ethnic groups in Iran.

"The United States acts as a bully towards the rest of the world … and thinks it can act on the force," said Rouhani, who concluded the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that triggered a cautious détente with Washington . Donald Trump's decision to leave the deal.

"But our people will resist and the government is ready to face America. We will overcome this situation (sanctions) and America will regret choosing the wrong way.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the UAE's chief of business on Sunday for comments about the bloodshed in Ahvaz city in the south-west of the country.

PressTV said the action had been taken over by a UAE official without giving details.

Qatar, the Arab Gulf state, which disagrees with US and Saudi allies, condemned the assault on the military parade that injured at least 70 people.

Gunmen fired at an observation booth where Iranian officials gathered to attend an annual event marking the start of the war between the Islamic Republic of 1980 and Iraq. The soldiers crawled as gunshots crackled. Women and children have fled for their lives.

It was one of the worst attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the sword and shield of the Shiite religious regime in Iran since its Islamic revolution of 1979.

He meets the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and runs his own business empire in Iran, a major oil producer, relatively stable compared to Arab countries struggling with unrest since the 2011 uprisings.

Since withdrawing from the Great Powers nuclear pact with Iran in May, Trump has reinstated US sanctions to isolate Tehran and force it to negotiate tougher restrictions on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran has excluded that.

"INERAL FANASIES"

"The United States wants to cause chaos and turmoil in our country so that they can return to this country, but these are unreal fantasies and they will never reach their goals," he said. Rouhani.

Shiite Iran disagrees with Saudi Arabia's predominance in the Middle East.

The regional powers support opposing parties in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria, as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon, guards defending Iranian interests.

"The small puppet countries of the region are supported by the United States and the United States provoke them and give them the necessary capabilities," Rouhani said.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment on Rouhani's allegations. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declare that Iran poses a threat to security in the Middle East and tries to dominate the region.

Iran denies the accusations and calls on regional states to guarantee the security of the oil region without the interference of the United States and other Western powers.

"Iran's response (to this attack) is coming within the framework of the law and our national interests," Rouhani said, adding that the United States would regret his "aggression".

An Iranian Arab ethnic opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, seeking a separate state in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The states of the Persian Gulf provide monetary, military and political support to these groups," Rouhani said.

Islamic State militants have also claimed responsibility. None of the claims provided evidence. The four attackers were killed.

"We hope that we will overcome these sanctions with the least possible cost and that America will regret its aggressiveness towards other countries, and especially with Iran," Rouhani said.