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Iran Says to Respond to Threats, Using "Political and Other Methods" |
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Monday, 16 January 2012If there's a threat, Iran will reply to it using political and other methods, in order to protect its interests, Iran's Supreme Leader's assistant Seyed Yahya Safavi said, Fars reported.
Safavi made the remarks after U.S. has warned Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that any move to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz would amount to crossing the "red line" that would provoke an American response.
The warning was conveyed to the top Iranian brass through a secret channel, The New York Times reported quoting senior US officials, who declined to describe the unusual contact.
Iran has threatened that it would close the Strait of Hormuz, which is just 45 kms wide at its narrowest point and works as a crucial waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, in the event of a military strike or severe tightening of international sanctions on its oil exports.
Chairman joint chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey had said that US would take action and reopen the Strait, which the NYT said could only be accomplished by a military means, including deploying minesweepers, warships and air strikes.
US officials said that they believe that Iran's threat were a bluster and an attempt to drive up the price of oil and blocking the route used by majority of Iran's petroleum exports would amount to economic suicide.
But Pentagon officials who plan for every contingency say that Iran has the capability to close the Strait although Tehran's forces are hardly a match for those of the US. US forces believe that Iran has deployed heavily armed speed boats, anti-ship cruise missiles along the Persian Gulf coastline posing a threat to US forces. |
Monday, 16 January 2012
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