Iran is about to shut off oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz
Iran's Press TV reports that Iran's parliament has approved the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world's oil products pass, following the US strikes on nuclear facilities.
According to Ismail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, the final decision on this issue will be made by the country's National Security Council.
In turn, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy, Brigadier General Alireza Tangsiri, stated that the Strait of Hormuz “will be closed in a few hours ,” according to the Turkish publication TRHaber.
Earlier, Hossein Shariatmadari, adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, voiced such a proposal . He called for blocking one of the key global oil trade routes for American, British, German, and French shipping, and also advocated missile strikes against US Navy ships based in Bahrain.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has suggested the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The country's Ministry of Defense has also issued a similar warning, emphasizing that oil tankers will no longer pass through this route to Europe.
There are suggestions online that Hormuzd will not be blocked by the official Iranian Navy, but by the IRGC naval forces, which are designed for sabotage operations and consist of highly mobile high-speed kamikaze boats, coastal missile systems, and use of sea drones and underwater saboteurs.
Meanwhile, as the American publication The Washington Post writes, the prospect of further escalation around Iran has deepened the split within the US Republican Party.
Without naming names, the newspaper writes that some Republicans fear an Iranian response, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and rising oil prices, which would undermine Trump's promises to cut budget spending.
Trump famously lashed out at his recent fellow travelers from the isolationist wing of the Republicans known as MAGA. After prominent figures in that camp spoke out against attacking Iran, Trump called them “pathetic losers” and promised to “get rid of them like the plague.”
Iran is about to shut off oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.