The threat from an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander followed a US announcement on Monday that it would end exemptions to eight buyers of Iranian oil and demanding they stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions. But General Alireza Tengseiri has hit back at Washington, saying if Tehran was barred from using the Strait of Hormuz they would “shut it down”. Oil prices have surged to six-month highs because of the diplomatic war between Iran and the US.
Today the Iranian parliament overwhelmingly voted to label all US military as terrorist in the latest tit-for-tat move between Tehran and Washington.
The new bill comes after Donald Trump branded the elite Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organisation earlier this month.
Washington has continued to put pressure on Tehran after withdrawing from their nuclear deal last November.
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond, has been the source of tensions for decades.
Iran has made threats to block the waterway, which links the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, in the past, without acting on them.
The Strait is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just two miles and an estimated 18.5 million barrels per day of seaborne oil passes through it every day.
Most crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq – all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – is shipped through the waterway.
Most crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq – all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – is shipped through the waterway.
In January 2012, Iran threatened to block the Strait in retaliation for US and European sanctions that targeted its oil revenues in an attempt to stop Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Around three years later Iranian ships fired shots at a Singapore-flagged tanker which it said damaged an Iranian oil platform, causing the vessel to flee.
It also seized a container ship in the Strait.
And recently in July 2018, President Hassan Rouhani hinted Iran could disrupt oil flows through the Strait in response to US calls to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero.
A Revolutionary Guards commander at the time also said Iran would block all exports through the Strait if Iranian exports were stopped.