Iran to Use All Means to Defend Interests
A top military advisor to the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution stressed Iran's ability to guarantee security of global energy supplies in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormoz and the Sea of Oman, but at the same time cautioned that the country will use all means to defend its interests in time of threat. - Speaking to reporters here in Tehran on Monday, Supreme Leader's Advisor for Military Affairs Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi pointed to a letter sent to Iran on the Strait of Hormoz, and noted that the strait is a strategic waterway both for global trade and global energy. Safavi further said Iran's coastal line is stretched from Iraqi Southeastern Al-Faw peninsula to Guatr in the Sea of Oman and for this very reason Iran can control and guarantee security of global energy in this region. An estimated 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the waterway. The United States has said it would not allow Iran to block the Strait, calling it a "red line" for the US military. In response, Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami dismissed the US warning over the closure of the strategic strait, and stressed that powerful Iran acts on its own and never asks for anyone's permission to carry out what it desires. In relevant remarks earlier this month, a senior Iranian legislator stressed that Iran will use all its capabilities and possibilities to defend the country against foreign threats and the country will use the Strait of Hormoz as a defensive tool and will close the waterway if it comes under threat.