Asia Pacific Daily News - Focus on Asia-Pacific Development, Daily News Express, Scholar Creation Center

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at a global conference in New Delhi, India, January 15, 2020. /AP Photo

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have steadily increased since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed tough news sanctions that have hammered the Iranian economy.

On January 3, Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq that

killed Iran's top military commander Qasem Soleimani

after a build up of tension in the region.

After Soleimani's death, Tehran swiftly appointed Esmail Ghaani as the new head of the Quds Force, an elite unit in the Revolutionary Guards that handles actions abroad. The new commander pledged to pursue Soleimani's course.

Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, recently said Ghaani would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path of killing Americans, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

"If (Esmail) Ghaani follows the same path of killing Americans then he will meet the same fate," Hook told the Arabic-language daily.

A view of the site of a U.S drone attack that killed Iranian Major-General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at the main road of Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq, January 15, 2020. /Reuters Photo

Iran's Hormuz Peace Initiative

Zarif's latest remarks were not the first time that Iran suggested improving ties with its neighbors. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled a Hormuz Peace Initiative last September at the meeting of the 74th UN General Assembly, saying the initiative aimed at establishing durable peace in the region.

Iran insists that extra-regional powers cannot bring peace to the region, which could be established through regional states' cooperation.

Morteza Makki, an Iranian expert of international issues, described the initiative as a "countermeasure" to the U.S. attempts to nurture Iranophobia.

During a meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Yousef Bin Alawi in Tehran last month, Rouhani said Iran is

ready to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia

, calling on all regional countries to "stay together in order to create peace and stability."

"From Iran's points of view, there is no problem in developing ties with neighbors and resuming relations with Saudi Arabia," said the Iranian president. "We should establish security in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz through expanding our cooperation and preventing foreign powers to interfere."