IRNA - Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri declared Iran�s preparedness to firmly defend the country's interests and security, especially in the Persian Gulf region.

"We have never started any aggression or war and will never do so, but we will decisively defend our security and sovereignty in case of any aggression or intervention by foreign countries," he said on Thursday, addressing professors and students of China�s National Defence University in Beijing.

Major General Baqeri noted that Iran will not tolerate hegemony and interventions of trans-regional powers in this policy.

He pointed out that the general policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards regional issues is defensive and it focuses on the active participation of all countries of the region to build a collective and regional security structure.

The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said that Iran has never accepted the presence of 70,000 foreign military forces and more than 40 military bases of the US in the region,

He said that if Washington finds a chance, it will also build more bases and dispatch more forces to East Asia in a bid to intervene in domestic affairs of the countries located in that region.

Major General Baqeri underlined that the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman should be safe for energy exports.

"Of course, such security should merely be maintained by the Persian Gulf States," he said, adding that the presence and deployment of the US and foreign military forces to secure security in the Persian Gulf will not yield any result except causing more insecurity," he added.

Major General Baqeri, heading a high-ranking military delegation, arrived in China on Wednesday on a three-day visit at the official invitation of his Chinese counterpart.