Oil weapon raised
The deputy head of Iran’s volunteer Basij militia warned on Monday that pressuring Iran could result in the disruption of international oil flows through the strategic Gulf waterway.
“We control the strait of Hormuz. It is the only way for the flow of 40 percent of the world’s energy,” Commander Majid Mirahmadi told the semi-official Fars news agency.
Iran controls one side of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Gulf through which about two fifths of the world’s globally traded oil passes.
He did not say how those flows would be affected but some Iranian officials have previously hinted Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, could use oil as a weapon in its nuclear standoff with the West.
Mirahmadi said any aggression against Iran could stir trouble for the United States or Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize.
Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against Iran along the lines of its 1981 air strike against an atomic reactor in Iraq.
“We can endanger the Zionist regime’s security ... Iran’s message is security for everyone or no one,” Mirahmadi said.
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