TEHRAN/TOKYO: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday criticized the deployment of US troops in the Middle East, saying it “disrupts security.”

“The presence of US forces in our region has no justification,” Raisi said in a Tehran ceremony ahead of the 45th anniversary of Iran’s revolution on Feb. 12.

Referring to both past and present deployments, he said the US presence “in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and the region is in no way creating security. It disrupts the security in the region.”

Raisi denounced what he called “Iranophobia” and “Islamophobia” and accused the US of creating it.

Meanwhile, Japanese police raided a ship dealer suspected of illegally selling a vessel to Iran, local media reported on Wednesday.

Tokyo police raided the Osaka-based ship dealer on suspicion that it exported a second-hand, 499-tonne freight vessel to Iran instead of to the UAE as it had reported to customs, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. The company allegedly submitted the false export plan to customs in May 2021, according to Jiji Press and other local media.

Police tracked the ship and found that it had arrived at an Iranian port after sailing through Southeast Asia, the Yomiuri said.