Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- A top Iranian military commander warned the West to consider energy prices before committing an act of aggression against Iran.
“A large percentage of the world’s oil is shipped through a route in the Persian Gulf,” the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) ground forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Jafar Asadi, told FNA in an exclusive interview on Saturday.
Asadi warned the West to think “what would happen to this vital global need” should Iran decide to close the Strait of Hormuz in order to defend itself against foreign aggression.
The strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway between Iran and Oman is a vital conduit for energy supplies. As much as 40 percent of the world’s sea-transited crude oil passes through the narrow Persian Gulf waterway.
The Iranian commander’s remarks come as American political analyst George Friedman said last week that a war against Iran would likely result in Tehran retaliating with attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and push oil prices to “more than $300 a barrel”.
Israel and its staunch ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads.
Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Iran has also insisted that it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.
Tel Aviv and Washington have recently intensified their threats to launch military action against Iran to make Tehran drop what they allege to be a non-peaceful nuclear program, while a recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies endorsed the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear plans and activities.
Following the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and similar reports by the IAEA head – one in November and the other one in February – which praised Iran’s truthfulness about key aspects of its past nuclear activities and announced settlement of outstanding issues with Tehran, any effort to impose further sanctions or launch military attack on Iran seems to be completely irrational.
The February report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, praised Iran’s cooperation in clearing up all of the past questions over its nuclear program, vindicating Iran’s nuclear program and leaving no justification for any new UN sanctions.
The UN nuclear watchdog has so far carried out at least 14 surprise inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites, but found nothing to support the allegations.
Following the said reports by the US and international bodies, many world states have called the UN Security Council pressure against Tehran unjustified, demanding that Iran’s case must be normalized and returned from the UNSC to the IAEA
