Iran: If the U.S. continues to threaten Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz

According to Al Jazeera reported on the 4th on the 5th, Hussein Salami, deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said that if the United States and its allies continue to threaten, Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz as a punishment.

Hussein Salami issued a statement on Iranian state television: "If the United States and its allies wish to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and threaten Iran, we will close it." Asked what activities Iran might see as a threat from the United States, Hussein Salami said the United States must learn the lessons of previous events. Media speculation has been that Salami was referring to the January 10 incident in Which Iran arrested 10 U.S. soldiers who entered Iranian waters.

In January, two ships carrying 10 U.S. soldiers were on their way from Kuwait to Bahrain when technical problems drifted into Iranian sovereign waters. The Iranian side said that the detained U.S. warship illegally entered more than 1 mile of Iranian waters. The IRGC Navy has confiscated the ship's positioning system, which proves that U.S. ships are "snooping around" in Iranian waters. But Iran soon released the 10 soldiers.

Salami stressed: "The United States cannot bring peace to any corner of the world."

On April 26, the U.S. Navy-led, 30-nation maritime exercise took place at several important maritime strategic routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

On May 2, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned recent U.S. activities in the Gulf region and demanded an explanation of the reasons for the decision to conduct military exercises in the region.

Hormuz's strategic position is extremely important

Located between the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is a herringbone-shaped and the only outlet from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, making it a strategically important one. The Strait of Hormuz is choking on the export of the Persian Gulf, is the gateway to the oil-rich Persian Gulf, and has a very important strategic and shipping position. Most of the oil from the oil-producing countries along the Persian Gulf coast passes through the strait to Western Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States. Iran has repeatedly said it has the ability to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition to Iraq and Iran, these oil producers include Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which share 60 percent of the supply of Western oil consumers.

Since it is an important passage for oil tankers to and from, once it is cut off, the Western economy will encounter a fatal threat, so it is regarded as the "lifeline" of Western countries and has always been an important target for imperialist powers to try to control.

Editor-in-charge: Zhou Jiying