Kuwait Prepares for Hormuz Closure (IranVNC.com)

16.30 GMT-12:30 PM/EST
Persian Gulf states are making plans in the event of a war between Iran and the United States or Israel.

Oil rich Kuwait has drawn up precautionary plans to ensure it can continue to export oil if Iran were to close the Strait of Hormuz. Between 20 to 40 percent of the world's crude oil passes through the vital waterway.

Kuwait Times reported, former Kuwaiti oil minister Ali al-Baghli saying that his country would likely use an offshore facility near Oman that it used during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, when merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf came under attack.

The specter of a military strike against Iran has been raised as a possibility if Iran continues ignoring the demands of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Israel, the U.S. and other countries insist that Iran should be stopped from developing nuclear weapons -- either through diplomacy or through force. And the commander of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said on July 2nd, that the US would not allow Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz. Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff said quote, "They [Iran] will not close it ... they will not be allowed to close it."

On August 12th, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hassan Qashqavi, sought to quell the fears of Iran's Arab neighbors. Speaking in Arabic in a news conference in Tehran, Qashqavi said:

Soundbite: (Qashqavi) "To all the Arab brothers and sisters, I say we see our security as your security and your security as our security."

The top official of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Saad al-Shuwaib, told the Kuwait Times that precautionary plans are being drawn to ensure Kuwait meets its oil exports in any event.

The comments follow statements made on August 9th by the chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC], Major-General Mohammad Ali Jafari, that Iran would use oil and its control of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormoz as a weapon if it were attacked.

The heightened tension between Israel and Iran is considered one reason why oil prices have hit record highs. Crude hit a new record of $147.27 a barrel on July 11th. But the KPC official has said that any military tension in the region will send the price of oil to $200 per barrel.

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