“I hope this visit to lead to extended and broadened interaction and more cooperation between the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and of the brotherly and friendly country of Oman,” said Brigadier General Ahmadreza Pourdastan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Iranian Army, on Wednesday while meeting with Air Vice Marshal Matar bin Ali al Obaidani, Commander of the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO).
The two senior commanders met in Tehran at Iranian Army’s headquarters.
“When we have retrospect we find out that Iran and Oman are two countries with close ties along each other for centuries and through ages,” highlighted the Iranian commander.
“In addition to having religious and ideological ties, other factors are also influential in this companionship,” averred Mr. Pourdastan enlisting some elements that contributed to close ties between Iran and Oman, “being at a strategic region, sharing water borders, and being located on the opposite sides of the Strait of Hormuz are among those elements.”
“These commonalities have made Iranians to feel at home in Oman as our navy fleet dispatch for a destination they are willing to have a short stop at one of your ports,” noted the Iranian commander, addressing the Omani commander, “because they have been treated warmly and compassionately by Omani people and military personnel.”
The deputy commander-in-chief of Iranian army affirmed that the cemented ties and huge commonalities make the Iranian officials to strengthen the level of bilateral cooperation in all areas especially in the area of military cooperation.
“Our armed forces have acquired good capabilities in the last 38 years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution,” Mr. Pourdastan made the assertion, “we learned our lesson from the eight year imposed war and the cruel sanctions, and the main lesson was to be self-reliant and have good self-esteem.”
“We have reached the confidence to land upon our own legs and not to bend to the wishes of arrogant states,” stressed the Iranian commander. “We have reached the proprietary technology and capability to manufacture our own defensive needs inside Iran and, thank God, we have created the deterrence not to let anybody dare to attack on Iran.”
He maintained that the military doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran is defensive and deterrence-based, “which means we develop our military capacity not for aggression and offence but for deterrence and defense.”
“The countries of the region can solve their problems, differences, and disagreements, without the presence of foreigners through dialogue and interaction,” underlined Mr. Pourdastan. “They can also establish security in the region without asking alien states.”
“I hope that we devise mechanisms to further cooperation in areas like staging joint war-games, exchanging students at different levels, and holding joint sportive and Quranic tournaments,” Mr. Pourdastan urged the Omani commander to boost bilateral cooperation.
YNG/ 4111122