2011-05-03 16:04

TEHERAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said the US has no more excuse to remain in the region following Washington's confirmation that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has been killed, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Tuesday.

"With the killing of bin Laden, there is no excuse for the US presence in the region," Salehi was quoted as saying.

"If the US invaded the region under such a pretext, the problem is over now and they had better pull out of the region immediately and stop the killing of regional people," he said in Qatari capital of Doha on Monday.

"The public opinion in the region and even in the United States are not happy with the US presence in the region," said Salehi.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Monday that after the death of bin Laden there will remain no excuse for foreign troops to stay in the region to fight terrorism.

However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that the death of bin Laden dose not mean that the fight with terrorism is over and strikes on al-Qaida will not end with the death of its leader.

US President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that a US operation had killed bin Laden outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad and hailed the terrorist leader's death as the "most significant achievement" in US efforts to defeat al-Qaida.