“Our strategy toward threats and sanctions is smart control of the Strait of Hormuz” Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari told the Persian service of the Fars News Agency on Monday.
“With regard to threats, we have entered a new phase, and now these are our threats that affect the enemy,” he said.
The enemy’s threats have not affected Iran, instead “the Islamic Republic’s threats with regard to controlling and sealing off the Strait of Hormuz or (Iran’s) response to various threats have been more (effective),” Jafari added.
Jafari also said, “People’s presence on revolutionary scenes and their full support of the Islamic Republic system’s goals have made the enemy’s threats against Iran ineffective.”
Iranian officials have said that the Islamic Republic has no decision to block the Strait of Hormuz unless Iran is threatened seriously.
For example, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaii, said on the U.S. television network PBS’ Charlie Rose show on January 19 that “there is no decision to block and close the Strait of Hormuz unless Iran is threatened seriously and somebody wants to tighten the noose.”
He also said, “All the options are or would be on the table.”
During the recent war games staged in the Persian Gulf, Iranian naval forces practiced their ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important chokepoints, which accounts for about 30% of the world’s seaborne oil shipments.
AM/PA
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MNA
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