TEHRAN, May 8: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that Iran’s arch-foe the United States was the main obstacle to resolving both the crisis in Iraq and the Palestinian question.

“Your presence in the Persian Gulf is the source of insecurity in this very sensitive region of the world,” Khamenei said to the Americans during a speech in the southern city of Shiraz carried by state television.

“The security of this region has to be restored by regional countries,” he insisted, adding that in the case of Iraq “the very presence of US forces is enough to provoke Iraqi people.” “In Palestine, American intervention has only worsened the situation,” said the all-powerful leader.

“The situations in Iraq and in Palestine will be sorted out, but when these are resolved there will not be anything left of America’s prestige and identity,” the state broadcaster’s website also quoted Khamenei as saying.—AFP