[Regnum] Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz if necessary. This was announced on February 17 by Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.
"The decision to close the Strait of Hormuz is made by the highest leadership, and I say as a military man that we are ready to do this when ordered," Tasnim news agency quoted Tangsiri as saying.
In the event of military action, Iran will use weapons that are different from those demonstrated during the exercises, the military officer added.
On the eve, the IRGC Navy launched the "Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz" exercise, the stated purpose of which is to test the readiness of special forces units and practice scenarios for countering security threats in the strait area.
What to know about key waterway that Iran declared closed as it holds military drill
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says it temporarily closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The move came as semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported live fire exercises in the vital waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
The move is a rare, perhaps unprecedented shutdown of the strait, a signal from Iran of the potential fallout to the world economy if the United States goes through with threats to attack it as tensions mount between the two countries.
In past times of tension and conflict, Iran has at times harassed shipping though the narrows, and during the 1980s’ Iran-Iraq war, both sides attacked tankers and other vessels, using naval mines to completely shut down traffic at points. But Iran has not carried out repeated threats to close the waterway altogether since the 1980s, even during last year’s 12-day war when Israel and the US bombarded Iran’s key nuclear and military sites.
The extent and impact of Tuesday’s closure were not immediately known. Iranian media said it would be for several hours for "safety and maritime concerns."
The US military’s Central Command did not immediately comment on the closure or Iran’s live fire drills. But during Iranian military exercises in the strait and nearby waters several weeks ago, it warned Tehran that any "unsafe and unprofessional behavior near US forces, regional partners or commercial vessels increases risks of collision, escalation and destabilization."
Here’s what to know about the strait, the drill, what caused the tensions and what might happen next.
IRAN DRILL INCLUDES LIVE FIRE
With the US threatening to strike amid the massive nationwide anti-government protests that erupted in late December and January, Iran held a live-fire military drill in the Strait of Hormuz in early February. It warned ships of the drill at the time but did close the passage.
On February 4, tensions between the Iranian and US navies rose further after a US Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Iran also harassed a US-flagged and US-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military reported.
On Monday, Iran announced its new drill, dubbed, “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz” military drill. Mariners in the region were warned by radio that it planned “live surface firing.”
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which is close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported a live missile test Tuesday morning, saying missiles launched from inside Iran and along its coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
US CENTCOM has previously said Iran has a “right to operate professionally in international airspace and waters,” but it warned against interfering or threatening American warships or passing commercial vessels. The command, which oversees the US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said it would not tolerate actions such as Iranian aircraft or vessels getting too close to American warships or pointing weapons toward them.
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ISSUES SHARP THREAT TO US
The actions around the strait come amid increasing tension between the US and Iran. US President Donald Trump initially threatened to launch a military strike against Iran after its bloody crackdown on last month’s protests. Since then, he has shifted to threatening attack to pressure Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear program. The two sides held a new round of indirect nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and supporting guided missile destroyers have been in the Arabian Sea for several weeks, where they could launch an attack if Trump calls for it. Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other military assets the US has built up in the region.
Iran has warned it could launch its own preemptive strike or target American interests across the Middle East and Israel. While the 12-day war saw Iran fire off ballistic missiles and Israel target its stockpile, Tehran maintains an arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles that could hit surrounding Gulf Arab states.
On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the US that “the strongest army in the world might sometimes receive such a slap that it cannot get back on its feet.”
“Of course a warship is a dangerous apparatus, but more dangerous than the warship is the weapon that can sink the warship into the depths of the sea,” Khamenei said, Iranian state TV reported.
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