US Navy won’t let Iran shut Gulf

ABU DHABI – The United States will not allow Iran to block the Gulf, which carries crude from the world’s largest oil exporting region, and would defend its ships in the waterway, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet said yesterday.

“I believe … Iran will not attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and we will not allow them to close the Strait of Hormuz.I can’t say it anymore clearly than that,” Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, told a conference on Gulf naval security in Abu Dhabi.The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in remarks published last week that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked.”Regardless of what might precipitate an entity or a country to attempt to close the strait …it is an international affront that is saying to the world that the nearly 40 per cent of the world’s oil and the significant amount of natural gas which goes through the strait is now being held hostage by a single country,” he said.There have been repeated incidents in the Gulf, where the Fifth Fleet is based, in which the US ships have come close to skirmishing with approaching boats in the busy waterway.Asked whether he was worried such incidents could escalate, Cosgriff said US naval officers would defend their ships.Part of the problem, he said was that it was not clear who was in control of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval activities – Tehran or local commanders.Nampa-ReutersIran will not attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and we will not allow them to close the Strait of Hormuz.I can’t say it anymore clearly than that,” Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, told a conference on Gulf naval security in Abu Dhabi.The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in remarks published last week that Tehran would impose controls on shipping in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked.”Regardless of what might precipitate an entity or a country to attempt to close the strait …it is an international affront that is saying to the world that the nearly 40 per cent of the world’s oil and the significant amount of natural gas which goes through the strait is now being held hostage by a single country,” he said.There have been repeated incidents in the Gulf, where the Fifth Fleet is based, in which the US ships have come close to skirmishing with approaching boats in the busy waterway.Asked whether he was worried such incidents could escalate, Cosgriff said US naval officers would defend their ships.Part of the problem, he said was that it was not clear who was in control of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval activities – Tehran or local commanders.Nampa-Reuters