Posted on 12/28/2011 6:14:33 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Iran today threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the United Nations imposes sanctions on Iranian oil as a response to Iran’s sketchy uranium enrichment program, according to a report from Reuters.
Iran has defiantly expanded nuclear activity despite four rounds of U.N. sanctions meted out since 2006 over its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment and open up to U.N. nuclear inspectors and investigators.
Many diplomats and analysts believe only sanctions targeting Iran’s lifeblood oil sector might be painful enough to make it change course, but Russia and China - big trade partners of Tehran – have blocked such a move at the United Nations.
Iran’s warning on Tuesday came three weeks after EU foreign ministers decided to tighten sanctions over the U.N. watchdog report and laid out plans for a possible embargo of oil from the world’s No. 5 crude exporter.
“If they (the West) impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz,” the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying.
State Department officials suspect the threat could be an empty one — closing the Strait would, after all, hurt Iran almost as much or more as it would hurt importers of Iranian oil — but industry experts are divided about whether Saudi Arabia and other oil exporters would be able to supply the demand gap.
Meantime, the threat — empty or not — underscores the persistent need for the United States to assume energy independence. As a reminder, energy independence has become less a question of capability than of policy. According to a report from the Institute for Energy Research, the United States has 1.4 trillion barrels of recoverable reserves of oil — or more than the entire world has used in 150 years. That’s enough to fuel the United States for the next 250 years. Natural gas and coal resources are in even greater abundance. Energy independence could really and truly be as easy as 1-2-3. A sensible policy would (1) unlock more federal lands, (2) develop shale resources and (3) eliminate excessive regulation. But energy independence is not only a clear-cut proposition, it’s also a one-two punch: It’s a positive from a foreign policy perspective and it’s a positive from an employment perspective. According to the same IER report, taking basic steps toward energy self-sufficiency could create up to 1 million jobs. It really does seem like a no-brainer to me.
Man, I wish we had an American for a president right now.
Sanctions never work, anyway. Glass parking lot time.
Note to Mr. Imanutjob. Just one US carrier battle group has more firepower than the entire navy of any other contry. Maybe he thinks he can get away with this with Obama in the White House. I wouldn’t count on that if I were him. Seems Obama leans Sunni over Shite to me.
They have ONE oil refinery in their entire nation. If they close the Straits, tell them (behind closed doors) that their refinery will be crippled permanently and their economy will grind to a sudden halt. Some of the Mullahs must have enough common sense to recognize that reality and call this stupidity off.
Go ahead and do it. Maybe it would finally get us to be serious about using our own oil, natural gas and coal. Screw Europe, Ivan already owns them anyway.
If Washington had any cajones (which everybody knows they don't), a message would be sent to the ragheads that any such action would be met with immediate, total, all-out, white hot war. Period. Turn their country (and I use the term loosely) into ashes and glass.
*Sigh* A lot of us feel the same way, crosshairs. :'(
Call their bluff.
Closing Hormuz would put half the world against them,even countries with no balls would have to rise up[.
Wait, we are one of those countries with no balls.
Nope-— No one will call their bluff.
Official: Gulf states ready to offset Iran oil
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/12/28/official-gulf-states-ready-to-offset-iran-oil/
December 28, 2011
Gulf Arab nations are prepared to offset any potential loss of Iranian oil in the world market, a senior Saudi oil official said as Iranian officials stepped up their rhetoric today about shutting off a key supply route.
The remarks from the world’s largest oil producer came after Iran’s vice president on Tuesday warned his country was ready to close the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway through which a sixth of the world’s oil flows — if Western nations impose sanctions on its oil shipments.
And on Wednesday, Iranian navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, added that Iran’s Navy can readily block the strait if need be. His comments to Iran’s English-language state Press TV came as Iran held a 10-day drill in international waters near the strategic chokepoint.
Western nations are growing increasingly impatient with Iran over its nuclear program, and worries abound that new sanctions on the country could target its oil exports.
excerpted for AP content
Within hours after the closing of the Straight, Bandar Shapur will be rubble.
The cost to Iran from closing the Straight will be exorbitant and more than Iran can afford.
Sounds like they picked a great place to strategically maneuver. Guess they figure the wreckage of their fleet will terminally block the Straits. Shooting fish.....
Certainly the Grand O won’t call their bluff. What? Do something that might impact his re-election? What’s really more important here? /s
———No one will call their bluff-——
Actually, the Iranian bluff has already been called.
Recall if you will recent events where major defense manufacturing capabilities were severely harmed if not destroyed. Recall if you will the stuxnet and other worms that ruined the enrichment production. Recall if you will the preeminent nuclear scientists that were exterminated.
The bluster in question is for domestic consumption to hide the most embarrassing losses of aggressive capability.
Thack - thank you for the correction. I was misinformed. Five of them look to be easily accessible by air. It could still do a lot of damage to their economy since, as you point out, they still need to import much of their refined petroleum.
OOps.....
There is no longer a Bandar Shapur. It was renamed Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni
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