Iran official: U.S. cannot stop us from cutting off world oil supply
U.S. military indicates it will not allow Tehran to close off Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran threatens to do so in case of western sanctions on its oil sector.
By Haaretz
The United States is in no position to advise Iran against cutting global oil supply in case of sanctions against its petroleum industry, a top Iranian commander said on Thursday.
The comment by deputy chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami came after the U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway in the distribution of worldwide oil supply.
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A military personnel participating in the Velayat-90 war game on Sea of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran December 28, 2011. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
“The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity,” said in a written response to queries from Reuters about the possibility of Iran trying to close the Strait.
Responding to the remark by U.S. forces on Thursday, Salami told Iranian state television Press TV that the “Islamic Republic of Iran asks for no other country’s permission for the implementation of its defense strategies.”
According to the Press TV report, the senior Iranian military official indicated that the U.S. was not in a position to give Iran permission to close the strategic waterway, adding that U.S. pressure had failed to prevent Iranian action on other issues in the past.
The U.S. navy’s comments on Wednesday came a day after Iran’s first vice-president warned on Tuesday that the flow of crude will be stopped from the crucial Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if foreign sanctions are imposed on its oil exports, the country’s official news agency reported.
“If they (the West) impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz,” IRNA quoted Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying.
About a third of all sea-borne oil was shipped through the Strait in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and U.S. warships patrol the area to ensure safe passage.
Tensions over Iran’s nuclear program have increased since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Nov. 8 that Tehran appears to have worked on designing a nuclear bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Iran has warned it will respond to any attack by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf, and analysts say one way to retaliate would be to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Most of the crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq – together with nearly all the liquefied natural gas from lead exporter Qatar – must slip through a 4-mile (6.4 km) wide shipping channel between Oman and Iran.
WarSclerotic 
December 29, 2011 at 3:55 PM
Reblogged this on Basil Wheel.
December 29, 2011 at 5:52 PM
Once again, Iran is showing it’s arrogance and insane ability to underestimate the ability of the U.S. military. Not only that, they have a amazing ability to make more and more enemies, much like the rest of the Muslim world. Now the line is drawn. Oil embago on Iran = Cut the Flow of Oil by Iran. The embago is going to happen. Let’s see if Iran has the courage to follow through on their threats. Personally, I think they just backed themselves into a corner.
December 29, 2011 at 8:49 PM
I am really happy that i was wrong yesterday regarding the possibility that the iranians wont close Hormuz. It became clear that the iranians are stupid enough to do exactly the thing that will trigger the showdown with the West, the same West that was saved at Thermopile by the heroic Spartans in their bitter fight against the Persians.
Anyway, no mercy will be shown this time when the mighty american hammer will blow the persian carpet in the desert wind.