This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Countries in the region are capable of ensuring their own security through cooperation without US involvement, said Iran’s president on Thursday, Anadolu reports.
Speaking at an event marking a local holiday, Masoud Pezeshkian addressed regional issues and called for closer cooperation among neighboring countries, according to a statement from the Iranian presidency.
“We are brothers with all the countries around us, and we are all Muslims. Therefore, we can help one another and ensure the security of our region,” he said.
“Regional countries do not need the US to come from the other side of the world under the pretext of providing security,” Pezeshkian said.
READ: Qatar-led mediators push for US-Iran deal to avert new strikes: Report
He also criticized Washington’s military spending and accused the US of committing violations while presenting its presence as necessary for regional security.
The remarks come amid continued tensions between Tehran and Washington following the start of the current conflict on Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran and Tehran responded by targeting Israel and what it said were US positions in Arab countries.
Washington and Tehran on June 18 signed a framework agreement and subsequently began negotiations, but the talks later collapsed over differences concerning freedom and security of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy and goods shipments.
OPINION: America’s hegemonic gamble: how a third war could push Iran towards nuclear weapons

- Floods kill 5, including 4 children, leave 5 missing in Syria
- Qatar denies interfering in Israeli elections
- Beyond Netanyahu: what Israel’s election means for Palestinians
- Belgian universities challenge EU Commission’s position on Israeli academic cooperationDonald Trump,
- Iranian president says regional countries can ensure security without US involvement
- Over 233,000 double-envelope ballots counted in Israeli election, nearly 50% of total
- Gaza Fishermen Recycle 50-Year-Old Cement from the Sea
- America’s hegemonic gamble: how a third war could push Iran towards nuclear weapons
- Israeli opposition leader Eisenkot accuses Netanyahu of seeking to delay election results
- Lebanese president urges end to Israeli attacks, warns against military solution
- Declared 38 years ago, denied since: the Algiers Declaration remains a milestone in the Palestinian struggle
- Yemen escalation kills nearly 1,700, injures over 7,000 since August: UN agency
- Israel Can’t Vote Its Way Out of Apartheid | Palestine This Week
- Shell profits double as Middle East conflict pushes up energy prices
- Israel continues raids in occupied West Bank, arrests 13 Palestinians
- Israel kills 4 Palestinians in strike on government post in Gaza despite ceasefire
- Over 29,000 double-envelope ballots counted in Israeli election, around 6% of total
- Podcast by Jasim Al-Azzawi with John Fozzei Miller: Why Strategists Think Trump Has Lost The War?
- Iran’s army says it downed MQ-1 drone east of Strait of Hormuz
- Sudan accuses Ethiopia of allowing drone attacks to be launched from its territory
- Over 135,000 displaced in Yemen’s Taiz province in 2 months: Minister
- Israeli channel reports proposed Netanyahu-Eisenkot power-sharing deal
- Qatar-led mediators push for US-Iran deal to avert new strikes: Report
- Israeli forces demolish residential building, bulldoze land in Bethlehem’s al-Walaja
- Kuwait summons Iranian ambassador after Tehran denies assassination plot
- Joint Arab List ready to help bring down Netanyahu government
- Barghouti says Israeli election results show sharp shift towards extremism and fascism
- Trump appoints Biden-era official to Gaza Board of Peace
- Trump pressures Netanyahu to exclude Ben-Gvir and paves way for unity government
- Putin says trade turnover with Egypt ‘growing steadily’ despite regional tensions
- ‘Not acceptable’: UN rights chief slams US sanctions on world body’s rapporteur
- Ethiopia receives 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets, plans to acquire S-400 air defenses
- Iranian foreign minister says Tehran in talks with mediators to implement 7-day plan with US
- Yemeni army claims 239 Houthis neutralized in 749 operations over 24 hours
- World Food Program chief calls Gaza hunger ‘unacceptable’; vows to protect aid workers
- Syria summons Jordanian ambassador for ‘deadly’ airstrikes in Daraa
- Sudan accuses over 20 countries of involvement in ongoing war
- Former US officials who resigned over Gaza urge 2028 presidential candidates to reject architects of Biden-era policy
- Canadian advocates, academics urge reassessment of refused study permits for Palestinian students from Gaza
- Israeli president urges every effort to avoid another election
- Israeli military demolishes homes of two Palestinian prisoners in West Bank village of Beita
- Israel’s final election results expected Thursday evening: Election official
- Iraq, Syria discuss oil exports via Baniyas pipeline with capacity of 2M barrels per day
- Meet the shortlisted authors of Palestine Book Awards 2026
- Up to 50,000 flee Ethiopia clashes into Kenya, urgently need aid: UN refugee agency
- Indonesia should stop selling palm oil to Israel
- Houthis call for evacuation of Yemen’s Aden airport amid escalation
- Arab Joint List extends hand to Eisenkot’s bloc to oust Netanyahu gov’t
- Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold silent protest in Netherlands’ Utrecht for 111 weeks
- Thinking a possible Netanyahu departure changes anything? Think again.

