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| Iran Says No Oil via Strait of Hormuz if Sanctions Applied |
| 2011-12-28 |
| [An Nahar] No oil will be permitted to pass through the key oil transit Strait of Hormuz if the West applies sanctions on Iran's oil exports, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi warned on Tuesday. The threat was reported by the state news agency IRNA as Iran conducted navy war games near the strait, at the entrance of the oil-rich Gulf. "If sanctions are adopted against Iranian oil, not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz," Rahimi was quoted as saying. "We have no desire for hostilities or violence ... but the West doesn't want to go back on its plan" to impose sanctions, he said. "The enemies will only drop their plots when we put them back in their place," he said. The threat underlined Iran's readiness to target the narrow stretch of water along its Gulf coast if it is attacked or economically strangled by Western sanctions. More than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States maintains a navy presence in the Gulf in large part to ensure that passage remains free. Iran is currently carrying out navy exercises in international waters to the east of the Strait of Hormuz. Ships and aircraft dropped mines in the sea Tuesday as part of the drill, according to a navy front man. Although Iranian war games occur periodically, the timing of these is seen as a show of strength as the United States and Europe prepare to impose further sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors. The last round of sanctions, announced in November, triggered a pro-regime protest in front of the British embassy in Tehran during which Basij militia members overran the mission, ransacking it. London closed the embassy as a result and ordered Iran's mission in Britannia shut as well. Tehran in September rejected a Washington call for a military hotline between the capitals to defuse any "miscalculations" that could occur between their militaries in the Gulf. An Iranian politician's comments last week that the navy exercises would block the Strait of Hormuz briefly sent oil prices soaring before that was denied by the government. While the foreign ministry said such drastic action was "not on the agenda," it reiterated Iran's threat of "reactions" if the current tensions with the West spilled over into open confrontation. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #20 And anuther ... * RUSSIA TODAY > WAR BETWEEN IRAN + WEST "GREATEST DANGER" IN 2012: RUSSIA'S UN EVOY [Vitaly Churkin]. FYI Vitaly is deemed by many Russ Bloggers as one of the more trustworthy + saner heads in Moscow. and * TOPIX > VARIOUS > CLOSURE OF STRAIT OF HORMUZ NOT EASY FOR IRAN: EXPERTS. The Perts think its all bluster. IIRC last time they tried back in the 1980's, they lost a couple of destroyers + flock of armed speedboats, + SPECOPS raided a few oil platforms. PESKY PERSIANS WILL BE PESKY = Pragmatically, Iran is likely to keep working in 2012 on parallel NucBomb research + dev of reliable LRBMS - ONE DAY IN TIME THEY WILL HAVE THE INDIGENOUS CAPABILITY(S) TO CLOSE THE HORMUZ, PERHAPS AS EARLY AS 2015!? * SAME > IRAN TO BUILD 300 NEW PORTS [small], along the Persian Gulf + Sea of Oman. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-12-28 22:48 |
| #19 tipper good post. I believe the problem will be that the Iranians will believe their own propganda. They lost face with the many kabooms within Iran. They yearn to lash out at any enemy. This is payback. Verbal shadow boxing. The inroads into Arab nations are my long term concern. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-12-28 21:21 |
| #18 DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US, ISRAEL DISCUSS TRIGGERS [red lines] FOR BOMBING IRAN'S NUCLEAR INFRASTRUCTURE, + while the USA also tries to dissuade Israel from acting unilaterally. Apparently, Israel = Netanyahu Govt. panicked + became angered after SecDef Leon Pannetta's made MSM-publicized remarks on 12/02, where Leon stated that an attack on Iran would turn the entire ME into a conflagration which the US would regret. ISRAEL TOOK THAT AS MEANING THE OBAMA ADMIN IS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT STOPPING IRAN'S NUCPROGS. As of EOY 2011, it appears Israel still does NOT have much confidence fas before in the Bammer + Admin. [MEL BROOKS "EVIL EYE" here]. FYI DPK POSTER = argued that Iran likes to keep its REAL MILITARY CAPABILITIES, NUKES + ICBMS, HIDDEN??? versus * TOPIX > WW3 HAS BEGUN - ITS THE FIRST ASYMMETRIC LONG WAR WANTED BY PENTAGON THINK TANKS. Pragmatically, e.g. IRAN iff the US Govt-DOD hope to avoid fighting "rogue" states wid even elemental but reliable NucMilTechs, then it behooves the US to do so SOONER THAN LATER, where the odds of higher US = US-Allied casualties being incurred will be better. Anuther ... * SAME > [North Africa-style] ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN PAKISTAN NOT FAR AWAY: MUNAWAR [JeI Chief]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-12-28 21:05 |
| #17 MEMRI: Article On Iranian Website: This Is How We'll Close Strait of Hormuz |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-12-28 19:23 |
| #16 Doesn't Iran IMPORT refined gasoline (from India IIRC)? Any attempted closure would have to be very short term. |
| Posted by: Angomong Phusing1771 2011-12-28 19:01 |
| #15 "Where can the US go wrong, assuming Iran does shut the strait down?" With Bambi as the CIC, I shudder to think, AH. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-12-28 18:46 |
| #14 From MEMRI: What Iran has that can be used to close the Strait of Hormuz. Spengler's Law #1: A man or a nation at the brink of death does not have a "rational self-interest. Spengler's prediction: America will prevail, provided the Muslim world does not take us down with it first. What else can the Mad Mullahs do that has not been mentioned? Where can the US go wrong, assuming Iran does shut the strait down? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-12-28 18:40 |
| #13 Update US Warns Iran Not to Close Strait of Hormuz A spokesman for the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said Wednesday it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. "The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity," the fleet said in a statement released to Reuters. "Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated," the statement added. The statement came after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic oil route as a part of a "military drill." |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-12-28 18:21 |
| #12 The Chinese will do whatever causes the US to bleed the most, as long as it doesn't hurt them too much. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-12-28 16:59 |
| #11 Are you really so sure that they would BE on the other side from Iran? I can easily see the Chinese & Russians supplying arms and assistance in the nature of Vietnam, just enough to keep bleeding us. Saudi? Wouldn't trust them farther than I can spit. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-12-28 14:24 |
| #10 Sure they would EC - if it would bring the 12th Iman from his spider-hole in some well somewhere. That is the scary part - the Mad Mullah's actually believe that he would return - and they really don't care how many of their own citizens die in the process. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-12-28 13:52 |
| #9 You don't want nto risk a war with the U.S., Russia, China and Saudi Arabia on the other side. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2011-12-28 13:22 |
| #8 Iran will be on the wrong side of an ass kicking if they try it. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-12-28 12:59 |
| #7 'moose, the problem I have is that while rational people see Iran's ultimatum as a bluff, I'm not sure the whack job Mullahs of that whack job religion see it as a bluff. What happens if their bluff is called and they're not bluffing? I'm certainly not comfortable with the Zero in Chief leading that effort, and what will Russia and China do (not to mention Hamas, Hezbolla, Saudi, etc.) in that case? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2011-12-28 11:15 |
| #6 This happened before, during the Iran-Iraq war, and the US both put a lot of navy there, and gave like triple insurance to oil tankers and their crews, along with paying premium prices for the oil. However, this time, Iran probably figures it could use missiles against shipping. Or, more likely, they figure China is so desperate for oil that they would block or undermine sanctions. But the Chinese have seen this coming from a mile away, and while they would like to just block sanctions and keep the oil flowing, they also know that if Iran gets away with it, they will just keep pushing until they screw everything up. So they will more than likely let the US call Iran's bluff. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-28 09:32 |
| #5 Iran would learn two Latin words: Casus belli |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2011-12-28 08:27 |
| #4 I'm afraid that our CIC would use this potential action by Iran as a call for more windmills and stuff. He'd also be reluctant to use any military force to correct the situation unless it's controlled by the UN. Strongly worded letters would ensue. "Bye-bye mideast oil........gotta go golfing." |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2011-12-28 08:03 |
| #3 Drill or die. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-12-28 01:58 |
| #2 They are just pissed because Obama hasn't bowed to them yet. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-12-28 01:10 |
| #1 Oh please oh please oh please .... |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-12-28 00:37 |