Iran’s top leader to decide on blocking of Strait of Hormuz: official

The Sterett Destroyer escorts the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during a transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has beefed up its presence in the Gulf with an additional navy ship. (Reuters)

 

 

The chairman of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says any decision to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows, rests in the hands of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi says Iran has a contingency plan to close the key route, but Khamenei, as commander in chief of the armed forces, would have to make the final decision.

Firouzabadi’s comments come two weeks after the European Union enforced a total oil embargo against Iran for its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program. His comments were reported by the semi-official Fars news agency Sunday.

Iran issues new warning

Iran could prevent even “a single drop of oil” passing through Strait of Hormuz if its security is threatened, a naval chief said on Saturday.

Tehran will increase its military presence in international waters, said Ali Fadavi, naval commander in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“If they (the U.S.) do not obey international laws and the IRGC’s warnings, it will have very bad consequences for them,” Fadavi said, according to Iran's Fars News Agency.

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