Source: Mehr News Agency, Tehran

Iran is fully aware of the locations of the U.S. missile defense shields in the region, Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani said on Tuesday. The missile shields have been based around Iran for some time now, Miqani told reporters.

Ballistic Missile Defense

He said the establishment of the missile shields is part of the plan to promote Iranophobia among regional nations, adding that the U.S. is seeking to undermine the unity of the Islamic ummah (community).

Since the U.S. is in the middle of an economic crisis, it is trying to sell arms to Persian Gulf littoral states in order to recover from the economic meltdown, he stated.

The U.S. is also seeking to stabilize its military presence in the region so that it can pursue its evil interests, he added.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran rose on February 1 after the Obama administration quietly increased the capability of land and sea-based missile defenses in several Persian Gulf nations.

At the end of January, administration officials said that the U.S. was speeding up arms sales to a number of Persian Gulf Arab states and that it had also deployed warships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight to the region.

Two senior defense officials told Fox News on February 1 that missile-defense systems, including sea-based Aegis destroyers and Patriot missiles, are being sent to the Persian Gulf region. One official said the build-up was "previewed in the president's strategy on missile defense last year."

The moves, which include the sales of anti-missile systems to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, seem to be designed to pressure Iran.

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