In an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday, Zarif referred to a recent decision by the US to form a maritime coalition in the Persian Gulf and said more warships in the region would only lead to more insecurity. “The US (sold) $50bn worth of weapons to the region last year. Some of the countries in the region with less than a third of our population spend $87bn on military procurement. Let's make a comparison, Iran spent last year $16bn on all its military with almost one million people in the army. “The UAE with a total population of one million spent $22bn, Saudi Arabia spent $87bn. If you are talking about threats ... (full story)