TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran will not rein in its influence in the Middle East despite mounting U.S. pressure on Tehran to curb its regional activities, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif told Qatar’s al Jazeera TV on Monday.
"Iran will not change its policies in the region because of U.S. sanctions and threats,” al Jazeera quoted Zarif as saying.
In May, President Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, saying it failed to address Iran’s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 or its role in the Middle East.
Zarif said, "Iran will never hold negotiations about its missile program, because our missiles do not threaten anybody."
He also said the U.S. has launched an economic war against Iran and Turkey, emphasizing that Tehran would fully stand by Ankara in its confrontation with Washington.
Touching on Trump's plan to create a NATO-like security and political alliance among Arab countries to confront Iran, the Iranian foreign minister said the idea is "another illusion and useless policy."
He said Saudi Arabia is leading a criminal policy in Yemen and Western countries are cooperating with Riyadh in its war on Sanaa by remaining silent and dispatching arms.
The Al Saud regime, along with some of its allies particularly the UAE, has been waging a deadly war against impoverished Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah movement.
Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen.
The United Nations says a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.
A high-ranking UN aid official has warned against the "catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there is a growing risk of famine and cholera there.
"The conflict has escalated since November, driving an estimated 100,000 people from their homes,” John Ging, UN director of aid operations, told the UN Security Council on February 27.