WHAT’S THE STORY?

IRAN and peace are not two words normally seen in the same sentence, but Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has promised to unveil a regional peace plan at United Nations meetings this week.

It came as he called on Western powers to leave the security of the Persian Gulf to nations led by Tehran.

He was critical of a new US-led coalition patrolling the area’s waterways – all this as Middle East tensions rise following a series of attacks, including a missile-and-drone assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. According to the US, Iran carried out the September 14 attack on the world’s biggest oil processor in the kingdom and an oil field, which caused oil prices to rise by the biggest percentage since the 1991 Gulf War.

Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi rebels claimed the assault, but the Saudis say it was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran”. Iran has denied being responsible and has warned any retaliatory attack targeting it will result in an “all-out war”.

DO WE TRUST ROUHANI?

I’M no diplomat, but probably not. His remarks came as he spoke from the platform of a parade in Tehran, with officers from the country’s military and feared Revolutionary Guard standing alongside him.

The cleric then watched a display of Iranian military hardware - marching soldiers carrying submachine guns and portable missile launchers – as part of “Holy Defence Week” which marks the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980.

Rouhani said Iran was willing to “extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood” to Persian Gulf nations and was “even ready to forgive their past mistakes”.

He said: “Those who want to link the region’s incidents to the Islamic Republic of Iran are lying like their past lies that have been revealed. If they are truthful and really seek security in the region, they must not send weapons, fighter jets, bombs and dangerous arms to the region. Your presence has always been a calamity for this region and the farther you go from our region and our nations, the more security would come for our region.”

DOESN’T HE NEED FRIENDS?

AFTER breaking the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, generally terrifying his own population and trying to keep at bay an “opposition in exile” in France and facing umpteen accusations of human rights violations, you’d think he would need all the friend he could get – domestically and internationally.

International human rights experts last week called for an end to the impunity enjoyed by regime officials over abuses in Iran – specifically the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners.

QC Kirsty Brimelow, told a UN conference in Geneva: “Why should there now be a tribunal on the crime against humanity committed in 1988?

“First, because lawyers have examined evidence and know beyond doubt that a crime was committed. If Iran disputes that, we have a process for that.”

Iran’s failing economy is one of Rouhani’s most pressing domestic problems, such as rampant inflation, with prices and unemployment rising and wages stagnating. Protests, demonstrations and strikes have grown over recent months but it seems that he’d rather try to make his mark on the world stage.

His country has boosted naval co-operation with China, India, Oman, Pakistan and Russia in recent years, while the US maintains defence agreements across the Persian Gulf with allied Arab nations and has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region, whose energy exports deem it crucial to national security.

The US has imposed further sanctions on Iran following the Saudi attacks, but Rouhani

said they indicated only US “desperation” in the face of

Iranian resistance.