Iran threatens to block oil shipments in Strait of Hormuz

Iran's first vice-president warned on Tuesday that the flow of crude will be stopped from the crucial Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if foreign sanctions are imposed on its oil exports, the country's official news agency reported. "If they (the West) impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz," IRNA quoted Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying. About a third of all sea-borne oil was shipped through the Strait in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and U.S. warships patrol the area to ensure safe passage. Tensions over Iran's nuclear program have increased since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Nov. 8 that Tehran appears to have worked on designing a nuclear bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran has warned it will respond to any attack by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf, and analysts say one way to retaliate would be to close the Strait of Hormuz. Most of the crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq -- together with nearly all the liquefied natural gas from lead exporter Qatar -- must slip through a 4-mile (6.4 km) wide shipping channel between Oman and Iran.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• US
• IRAN
• WAR
• MILITARY
• Oil
• Strait of Hormuz
• IAEA
• Saudi
• Arabia
• IRNA
• United States
• Nuclear Iran
• Russia
• China
• Nuclear Weapon

[OpenOmniProductions]

@countypolk863 In relation to overall debt, we owe China very little.

[LetsgetphysicalAg]

@Tralgit (cont) We have massive debt, massive unemployement, massive failing infrastructure, massive hunger, massive home forclosures and the list goes on and on, and we worry about what is going on across the ocean? Who cares about Iran, iraq, israel and all that crap over there....we have HUGE issues in this country that need serious attention...AND NOW!! we are on the brink of collapse and here you sit wanting another war? I love this country far too much to let it fall! How about you?

[piroozz]

@townkevin59 you are idiot. In 2e world war the US was the only country with nuclear bomb. If they now throw a bomb they themselves will be also bombed by other nuclear bomb owners and then there will be no US any more.

[usaeagle1776]

@townkevin59 LOL

[townkevin59]

@piroozz ...What are you going to do when we drop an Atomic Bomb on your Country from a high altitude like we did in Japan during WWII?..In case you don't know American History, We killed more than 200,000 Japs that day, which Immediately ENDED the conflic. Do you think we won't drop something much bigger and scarier than that?...THINK AGAIN!!!!!

[townkevin59]

@usaeagle1776 ..They hit submerged driftwood and sank!

[OpenOmniProductions]

@nutbagbrew102 Yep. It's the popular illusion that we need China, but in reality the opposite is closer to the truth.

[nutbagbrew102]

@OpenOmniProductions besides who's gonna buy the crap they make -France?