TEHRAN, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday dismissed the recent allegations by the U.S. intelligence about Iran's rising influence in the Middle East.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi slammed U.S. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats for making "worn-out" and "baseless" claims about Iran's influence in the region.
No country has tried as much as Iran to ensure stability and peace in the Middle East, Qasemi argued.
On Tuesday, Coats said at a U.S. Senate hearing that Iran, together with some other states, poses the greatest regional and global threat.
Such remarks are aimed at "creating and promoting false and self-fabricated threats and terror in different parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East," said Qasemi.
He urged the regional states to be vigilant about what he called the U.S. "destabilizing" policies.
