Iran lawmakers back Hormuz blockade bill

Just over half of Iran’s parliament has backed a draft law to block the Strait of Hormuz, a lawmaker said yesterday, threatening to close the Gulf to oil tankers in retaliation against European sanctions on Iranian crude, Gulf Times cites Reuters as saying.  

The assembly has little say in defence and foreign policy, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word, but the law would lend political support to any decision to close the strait - a threat that Iran’s foreign minister recently played down.

Lawmaker Javad Karimi Qodoosi said 150 of parliament’s 290 members had signed the bill, describing the strait as “the world’s lock” to which Iran holds the key.
“If the sanctions continue, the countries that have imposed sanctions have no right to cross the Strait of Hormuz without harm,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted Qodoosi as saying.  

A heavy Western naval presence in the Gulf and surrounding area is a big impediment to any attempt to block the vital shipping route through which 40% of the world’s seaborne oil exports pass. Qodoosi dismissed this obstacle.

“From a military standpoint, the power to close the Strait of Hormuz is 100% there ... if we close the Strait of Hormuz, no country will be able to open it,” he said