Can block Strait of Hormuz, warns Iran

Irish Sun Thursday 19th January, 2012

TEHRAN - Tensions over the strategic Strait of Hormuz are set to escalate with top Iranian officials, including its Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, warning that Tehran could block the channel through which about a fifth of the world's oil trade passes.

The warning came even as the US military declared it is now "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking in Ankara Thursday, Salehi said Tehran had never tried to block the Strait of Hormuz but warned its neighbors against putting themselves in a "dangerous position."

"We want peace and tranquility in the region, but some of the countries in our region, they want to direct other countries 12,000 miles away from this region. I repeat that Iran has never tried to hinder this important route," Salehi told Turkey's NTV broadcaster.

"I am calling to all countries in the region, please don't let yourselves be dragged into a dangerous position."

Salehi also said that the US should express willingness to start negotiations with Iran without preconditions.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, said closing the Strait of Hormuz is an option if his country's security is endangered.

"There is no decision to block and close the Strait of Hormuz unless Iran is threatened seriously and somebody wants to tighten the noose," Khazaee said in Ankara on the Charlie Rose show. "All the options are or would be on the table."

Iran's Ambassador to Russia, Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, in the same vein, said Wednesday that the country has enough power to block the strait for "self defense."

In an interview with Interfax news agency, Sajjadi said Iran would take countermeasures if the U.S. struck the country's nuclear facilities.

"If Iran feels that its security is threatened, it is natural that Iran considers itself entitled to respond and give an appropriate answer. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is among the options of this appropriate answer," Sajjadi was quoted as saying.

"We believe that this scenario (the U.S. strike) is possible," he said, adding that Iran has enough power to block the strait for "self-defense."

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Wednesday warned against closing of the strait by Iran and said the US military was "fully prepared to deal with that situation now."

The US last month tightened sanctions on the Persian Gulf state over Iran's nuclear programme. Iran is already under four rounds of UN sanctions as well as additional U.S. and European Union financial restrictions.

European Union foreign ministers will meet on Jan. 23 to consider barring oil from Iran.