Iran on Saturday kept tensions simmering over its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers by readying war game missile tests near the entrance to the Gulf. The United States has warned a closure of the strait “will not be tolerated” after Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi’s threat this week that “not a drop of oil” will pass through the channel if more Western sanctions are imposed over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran has brushed off the warning from the United States, which bases its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, with Iranian navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari saying it would be “really easy” to close the strait.
A spokesman for the Iranian navy, Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, told state television on Saturday that, “in the next days, we will test-fire all kinds of surface-to-sea, sea-to-sea and surface-to-air as well as shoulder-launched missiles” in the final stages of the war games. He did not say exactly when the launches would start, but explained they would involve tests of “medium- and long-range missiles” to evaluate their operational effectiveness.
Twenty percent of the world’s oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf, making it the “most important chokepoint” globally, according to information released Friday by the US Energy Information Administration.
Around 14 crude oil tankers per day pass through the narrow strait, carrying a total 17 million barrels. In all, 35 percent of all seaborne oil transited through there this year. Analysts and oil market traders have been watching developments in and around the Strait of Hormuz carefully, fearing that the intensifying war of words between arch foes Tehran and Washington could spark open confrontation.
Iran is subject to four rounds of UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, which many Western countries allege is being used to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies the allegation. The United States and its allies have also imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran’s economy. More sanctions are on the way.
US President Barack Obama is expected to soon sign into law additional restrictions on Iran’s central bank, which acts as the main conduit for Iranian oil sales.
The European Union is considering other measures that could include an EU embargo on Iranian oil imports, with foreign ministers to meet on the issue in a month’s time. Iran’s oil minister, Rostam Qasemi, said sanctions would cause the price of oil to “increase drastically.” “Sanctions on Iran’s oil will drive up the price of oil to at least 200 dollar” per barrel, he predicted. As threats and counter-threats pile up, Iran is also reportedly leaving the door open to resuming long-stalled talks on solving the standoff over its nuclear programme.
Meanwhile, Iran is refusing to refuel some European and Arab airlines at its main international airport in a tit-for-tat move over major oil companies denying fuel to Iranian planes abroad, the airport’s chief said Saturday.
