The U.S. military reaffirmed on Wednesday its promise to help keep oil tanker waterways in the Persian Gulf open, after Iran hinted that it might try to block the oil exports of its neighbors if the U.S. continues to push the world to stop importing Iranian oil.
U.S. sailors and the U.S. regional allies "stand ready to ensure the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce wherever international law allows," Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani appeared to threaten that Tehran could try to disrupt the oil exports of the other countries in the Persian Gulf.
On previous occasions over disagreements with the West in the past, Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf and the oil-producing countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar to the Indian Ocean. The Strait of Hormuz, together with the Strait of Malacca linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, is one of the world's most important strategic chokepoint.
Now the official website of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran quoted Rouhani as saying on Tuesday:
"The Americans claim that they want to completely stop Iran's oil exports but they don't understand the meaning of this sentence because it's meaningless that Iran's oil cannot be exported, while region's oil is."
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Asked by Reuters later on the same day if those words were a threat to disrupt oil exports of other Persian Gulf countries, Rouhani declined to clarify, but said:
"Assuming that Iran could become the only oil producer unable to export its oil is a wrong assumption ... The United States will never be able to cut Iran's oil revenues."
As the U.S. is pushing current Iranian oil buyers to stop importing oil from Tehran, Iran has been insisting that taking its oil out of the market is "impossible."
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
Comments
At the same time we have our President vowing to use our Military, to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and Arab Oil flowing, we have our EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, doing all he can to keep E-15 and higher ethanol blends out of your gas tank. You know the home grown, clean burning, high octane, renewable fuel, we don’t have to send our Military overseas to protect and secure with their own Blood.
The brutal irony of it all, we can send our Sons and Daughters, to risk their lives for Arab Oil, while our EPA Administrator won’t let us use our own secure, home-grown fuel ethanol instead.
Mr. Trump – you better wake up, - because you’re looking really bad.
I mean, I don't pretend as though I have some sort of crystal ball into the future, but these events do not surprise me, only confirm my thoughts.
So, Iran attempts to fight back with threats of blocking oil...and the U.S. responds to help no other than--don't tell me (I didn't even need to read it):
Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar!
You know, quite often the "fragile five" members of OPEC are spoken of (as their supply is disrupted so as to speculate how this will affect the market).
But I have always been more concerned with the richest 5 (mentioned above). Interesting how Trump never placed travel bans on any of these five countries.