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Lavrov blasts US missile defense zone plan for Middle East

The US’ initiative in the region "is not an example of a search for a balance of interests"

TEHRAN, June 23. /TASS/. Washington’s initiative to create a missile defense zone in the Middle East is based on confrontational thinking and it’s a dead end, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

The United States’ initiative in the region "is not an example of a search for a balance of interests. Instead, it’s an example of confrontation, a scheme to create permanent division," Lavrov told a news conference after talks with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, his Iranian counterpart.

This is a dead end, Lavrov emphasized. In seeking to eliminate the structures created under the auspices of ASEAN, the Americans are promoting conflict and division, and they are not hiding the fact that this is aimed at containing China and isolating Russia, Lavrov said.

"We prefer a unifying rationale, which is the foundation of our initiative to form a collective security system in the Persian Gulf region," Lavrov said.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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