Lever of blocking Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used: Ayatollah Mojtada Khamenei
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Tehran: Iran is set to continue using its trump card of closing the Strait Hormuz for commercial ships, as indicated by a remark by Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ali Al Khamenei following the latter's assassination on February 28 together with that of his immediate family. .
The Strait of Hormuz is the vital shipping lane off the coast of Iran between the Persoan Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which nearly 20 per cent of the world’s crude oil flows. The strait has now become the key point of war as shipping activity has virtually come to a halt due to the risk involved under the threat of Iran's attacking them.
Although the world is seething with higher oil prices with its cascading effects on global economy with higher costs in most industries and resultant price increases along the supply chain, Iran does not want to lose its edge in the war by giving comfort on this score. Iranian leaders have been insisting that this war was triggered by the US and Israel, and now Iran would not just stop the hostilities except under its own conditions.
The same sentiment was expressed by its supreme leader that “the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must undoubtedly continue to be used”.
News media including CNN and Reuters have also been quoting sources in the region that Iran has begun laying mines in the strait. Although President Trump discounts such reports of Iranian plans in mining, Foreign Policy magazine has quoted US Central Command as having said on Thursday that it has destroyed more than 30 Iranian mine-laying ships, but experts say that countering mines could be a challenge given that the U.S. military decommissioned all its minesweeper vessels in the Middle East last September.