Mousavi raps South Korea for misnaming Persian Gulf

“Based on which knowledge and justifications is South Korea seeking to dispatch military forces to this region when its Defense Ministry doesn’t even know the historic name of ‘Persian Gulf’?” Mousavi tweeted on Wednesday in both Persian and Korean.

“Mutual respect and acceptance of realities are the basis of ties between civilized nations,” he added.

The remarks come as Seoul announced that it will dispatch troops to the Strait of Hormuz but will not join a US-led coalition.

The forces will not join a US-led coalition but conduct independent operations to help protect Korean vessels passing through the strategic waterway against piracy, Yonhap quoted the Korean defense ministry as saying, apparently in consideration of relations with Tehran.

Earlier on Monday, Mousavi had described South Korea’s measure as unacceptable. "The Korean government has informed us that it wants to dispatch a part of its fleet in Aden to the region (Persian Gulf) for patrolling mission, but outside the US coalition, and we have told them that the decision is unacceptable.”

He underlined that such a decision, if implemented, will be in line with the US adventurism policy and does not fit the age-old and friendly relations between Tehran and Seoul.

Iran has repeatedly announced that the presence of foreign forces in the region will lead to increased insecurity and instability. Tehran has proposed the HOPE initiative which aims to ensure regional security through boosting cooperation among regional states.

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