Tehran, May 25, IRNA � Head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said on Tuesday that Iran has never felt the need for territorial expansion and will never do so in the future.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the anniversary of liberation of Khorramshahr from the occupying army of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein, Shamkhani said that the lesson we should learn from that historical event is that dealing with a notorious competitor softly will lead to paying dearly for it.

'Saddam was on those days allied with the members of today's 5+1 Group, the Arab reactionary countries, the westerners, and even the former Soviet Union, establishing quite an uneven front in the unjust campaign against the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran of the day,' added Shamkhani.

'Yet, the Iranian nation's full trust in God, and Almighty Allah's blessings bestowed on them freed Khorramshahr from Saddam's occupying army,' said Shamkhani.

The Supreme Leader's representative in the SNSC, meanwhile, noted that Iran's influential role in the region today is neither due to Tehran's expansionist policies as some enemies accuse Iran of it, not due to Iran's desire to interfere in the future political map of the region, but due to the Iranian people's will and our system's popularity among the regional nations.

By IRNA