His Foreign Ministry Iran condemned today the “destabilizing presence” of USA at Middle Eastfollowing the announcement by Washington that it is deploying B-52 strategic bombers in the region to defend Israel, the sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic.

“We have always believed that the American presence in the region was a destabilizing presence,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghai at his weekly press conference.

On Saturday, the Pentagon announced the arrival of US B-52 fighter jets in the Middle East, a day after it announced the deployment of more military assets to “defend Israel”, a close US ally, and as a warning to Iran.

“Increasing the (US) presence will create further tension and will certainly have no influence on our determination to defend ourselves,” Bagai added, responding to a question about the arrival of US bombers.

On October 26, Israeli warplanes struck military installations in Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s missile barrage against Israel on October 1. Iran announced “limited damage” and that 4 military personnel, as well as a civilian, were killed.

Iran described its October 1 attack as retaliation for the killing of leaders of Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah and the Gaza Strip’s Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, both allies of Iran.

Israel has warned Iran to avoid any retaliation to its attack, while Tehran has vowed to respond.

The exchange of threats between Iran and Israel comes as the Israeli military is at war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s President Massoud Pezheskian said yesterday, Sunday, that a possible ceasefire between Tehran’s allies and Israel could affect his country’s response to Israeli strikes.