A senior Iranian security official said on Monday that Tehran was responsible for security in the Gulf and called on U.S. forces to leave the region, as tensions rose following last week's attacks on oil tankers.
"We have always said we guarantee the security of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz," the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB.
"We repeat our stance and call on U.S. forces to finish their presence in the region as they are the main source of crisis and instability."
