Washington: The United States voiced concern Monday over Iran’s unveiling of new assault boats and an aerial drone, but said Iran’s arms buildup will backfire as its neighbors gang up against it. Iran began mass-producing two high-speed variants of missile-launching assault boats on Monday, a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed a home-built bomber drone.
“This is… something that is of concern to us and… concern to Iran’s neighbors,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. He said that while every country had the right to provide for its self-defense, the United States takes into account “systems that can potentially… threaten particular countries or peace and stability in the region.” Faced with “the growth of Iran’s capabilities over a number of years, we’ve stepped up our military cooperation with other countries in the region,” Crowley said.
“This is one of the reasons why… we believe that if Iran continues on the path that it’s on… (it) might find itself less secure because you’ll have countries in the region that join together to offset Iran’s growing capabilities.” He added that the United States is still open to “constructive dialogue” with Iran to answer questions it and the world community have about its nuclear program, which Washington fears is aimed at building a bomb. “But in the meantime, we will work with other countries to try to do everything that we can to maintain peace and stability in the region,” Crowley said.
