Tehran, Apr 17 (IANS): Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on Friday that the US was the cause of insecurity in the Gulf.

The "illegal and aggressive" presence of the US forces in the Gulf has been the source of problems for the regional people, Hatami said on the occasion of Iran's Army Day.

"We are at our home, and they (Americans) have come from the other end of the world and cause problems by threats and sanctions," Xinhua news agency quoted Hatami as saying.

In a tweet on Thursday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also slammed the US presence in the waters to the south of Iran, saying that the American forces have come to the Gulf "7,000 miles away from its borders".

On Thursday, the US Navy said that 11 military vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) conducted "dangerous and provocative actions" near American Navy and Coast Guard ships in international waters in the Gulf on Wednesday.