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| ‘Threat of closing Hormuz Strait response to U.S. threats’ |
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 TEHRAN – Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said on Wednesday that Iran’s threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz is a response to the United States’ threats against the Islamic Republic. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly announced that the issue of closing the Strait of Hormuz is not on the agenda because Iran believes that the peace and stability of the region should be preserved and all regional countries should strive for progress and development in the shadow of security and peace,” he said. “(But) when the U.S. and the Zionist regime make various threats, they are effectively creating an atmosphere of war in the region. And of course such an atmosphere causes some reactions,” he added. Mehmanparast made the remarks after MP Parviz Sorouri of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said that Iran plans to practice its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important chokepoints, which represents about 30% of the world’s seaborne oil shipments. “Currently, the Middle East region supplies 70 percent of the world’s energy needs, (most of) which are transported through the Strait of Hormuz. We will hold an exercise to close the Strait of Hormuz in the near future. If the world wants to make the region insecure, we will make the world insecure,” ISNA quoted Sorouri as saying on Tuesday. Hossein Shariatmadari, the chief editor of the Kayhan newspaper, in the editorial of the December 13 edition of the daily, also said that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Iran has the right to close the Strait of Hormuz if its interests in the waterway are threatened.
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