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Iran again warns of Persian Gulf blockade if attacked

Iran Materials 29 November 2008 17:04 (UTC +04:00)

Iran has once again warned that it would blockade the oil export route in the Persian Gulf if its nuclear sites were attacked, Iranian media reported Saturday, reported dpa.

"We are capable of blockading the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and whoever does not believe this should ... see what happens in reality," Navy Commander Admiral Habibollah Sayari told IRNA news agency.

Iran's paramilitary revolutionary guards had several times in the past warned that if Israel carried out its plan to attack the country's nuclear sites, Iran would block the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which an estimated 20 per cent of the world's daily oil supply passes.

Such a blockade could trigger a worldwide energy crisis.

Admiral Sayari further told IRNA any aggressor should not forget that 2,000 kilometres of the Persian Gulf coast belonged to Iran, making the country capable of taking various initiatives.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past also warned that the country would be justified in using all options in the case of an attack, including using controls on oil supplies as a weapon.

Israel and the United States have stated that a military strike against Iran would not be ruled out if the Islamic state did not suspend its controversial nuclear projects. Both countries believe Tehran is secretly working on an atomic bomb despite Iranian claims of pursuing a solely civil nuclear programme.

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