WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Donald H. Trump is committed to protecting the interests of Washington and its allies against Iran's threats in the Strait of Hormuz, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a television interview he would go to Iran if needed for talks amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran. .

Asked if he was ready to go to Tehran, Pompeiro said in an interview with Bloomberg television: "Certainly if I am happy to go there, I would welcome the opportunity to speak directly with the Iranian people."

"The Iranian regime has a long history of lying," Pompeo said. "I will deal with a great deal of doubt with any Iranian assertion about the actions they have taken."

During the interview, Pompeo stressed that the nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration with Iran is catastrophic and contributed greatly to enriching Tehran's regime and its symbols. He explained that Washington seeks to change the behavior of Iran's aggressive regime in order to ensure stability in the Middle East.

The US secretary of state said Iran had been carrying out its malicious activities for 40 years.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Pompeo said Washington had already asked Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, Australia and others to join a planned maritime security initiative in the Middle East.

"Every country that is interested in ensuring that these waterways are open and that the flow of crude oil and other products is possible through the Strait of Hormuz will need to be shared," Pompeo said.

A senior diplomat in Japan, Washington's top ally in Asia, told Reuters that Pompeo spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by telephone on Tuesday.

However, he said that Japan was not in a position to decide whether or not to join any naval force until the United States gave an outline of how such an operation would be carried out.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the Iranian file with his new British counterpart Dominique Rapp during a phone call last night, the day after Boris Johnson took over as British prime minister and was appointed foreign minister by the hardline Liberal who also served as deputy prime minister.

"They discussed key global priorities, including addressing Iran's attempts to expand its nuclear program and strengthen NATO," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortigas told reporters.

The spokeswoman did not mention the oil tanker crisis between London and Tehran.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Iran was still destabilizing the Middle East and Washington was ready to defend its interests around the world.

Last Wednesday, an Iranian news website quoted a well-informed source as saying that Tehran had submitted an alternative proposal to Paris in order to reduce tensions between Iran and the United States regionally.

A source close to the government of Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said that Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghji handed a letter from Rohani as his envoy to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macaron.

In a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency, Araghji said that Tehran still believes that diplomatic methods are open, as well as its efforts to free international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Pompeo's comments came after Iran on Sunday tested what appeared to be a medium-range ballistic missile about 1,000 kilometers away, a US defense official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the test did not pose a threat to navigation or to any US military in the region.

Iran is believed to have tested the medium-range missile last Wednesday in a bid to improve the range and precision of its weapons system.

The newspaper "New York Times" has revealed the failure of two Iranian attempts to launch rockets in March.

The newspaper said that the administration of President Donald Trump is accelerating a secret program to carry out sabotage operations against Iranian missiles.

US officials have described the program as part of an expanded campaign by the United States to undermine Iran's capabilities and isolate it.

According to the newspaper, the program was launched under the reign of former President George W. Jr., which was the leak of spare parts and corrupt materials to Iran's missile program.

In the context of the Iranian crisis with Britain, Iran released nine Indian crew members of the British carrier, which detained in the Strait of Hormuz on the fourteenth of this month.

The Iranian ambassador to Britain announced that his country gave India the right to visit 18 Indian crew members of the British carrier detained "Stina Empero."

"The Indian Embassy in Tehran granted the right of consular visit to meet the 18 Indian crew members of the British ship, Stina Empiro," said Hamid Baidi Nejad.

"There are similar procedures for five other crew members of other nationalities," he said.

The Indian embassy said it found the crew in a state of extreme calm and were not intimidated.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged tanker on Friday, and the incident provoked considerable tension between Tehran and London.

The detention of the oil tanker came hours after a court in Gibraltar announced the extension of the detention of an Iranian oil tanker for 30 days, two weeks after it was caught in an operation involving the Royal Navy, on suspicion that it was heading to Syria to deliver a load of oil, in violation of US and European sanctions.

The steps taken by Iran, including the landing of masked troops on the British ship, were similar to that of the British Royal Navy two weeks earlier.

This comes at a time said the maritime authority in Azerbaijan that an Iranian cargo ship launched a distress signal after an accident near a port in the Caspian Sea.

After receiving the distress, two helicopters and a patrol ship of the Azerbaijani border guard were sent to the scene, the agency said, adding that nine sailors were rescued aboard the ship.