30 November 2015, 18:41 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The plans of the United Kingdom to revive its power and influence in the Middle East seem to be a "joke," Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazzayeri said Tuesday.
"In our view, there is no new compared with the past and Britain's [efforts to] return to the region as a power is more like humor and joke of the year," Jazzayeri said in an interview with Iran-based Arabic-language al-Alam news, as quoted by the Fars news agency.
Jazzayeri noted that the United Kingdom, as well as Europe in general, should keep in mind that many things had changed in the region after Britain's colonial period, and people in the Middle East would not allow any hegemony, according to the news outlet.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said at last Wednesday’s Gulf Co-Operation Council that Iran posed a threat to Gulf nations and the wider Middle East, and pledged to work together with other countries to counteract its influence.
The UK government accuses Iran of sending fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assad and supporting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
