‘Great Satan US can’t bar Iran from shutting Hormuz’

A senior Iranian commander has underscored the Islamic Republic’s military might, saying that the US lacks the capability to hinder Iran’s efforts to shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Tehran deems it necessary to take the measure.

“Regardless of their publicity campaigns and propaganda efforts, the Americans are incapable of confronting Iranian actions in a number of spheres, including the potential plan [by Iran] to shut down the Strait of Hormuz,” Deputy Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said on Monday.

The principal objective of Iran in the region is to defuse tensions, Jazayeri noted, adding that protecting and guaranteeing security in the Persian Gulf are among the major defensive policies of the country.

However, should the country’s national interests come under threat, Iran’s armed forces will utilize their defensive capabilities to defend the country’s sovereignty, he said.

On January 8, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta boasted that Washington would respond to any Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz.

“We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz,” he said.

Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said on December 29, 2011, that the United States is not in a position to prevent Iran from shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

Salami made the remarks one day after Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in a Press TV interview that “closing the Strait of Hormuz is very easy for Iranian naval forces,” and that “Iran has comprehensive control over the strategic water way.”

The Bahrain-based US Navy’s Fifth Fleet claimed in a December 28 statement that it will not “tolerate” any ‘disruption’ of the waterway, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.

On January 2, Iran wrapped up a massive 10-day Velayat 90 naval exercise, covering an area stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden.

During the drills Iran successfully test-fired a range of indigenous state of the art medium- and long-range missiles, including the anti-radar surface to air Mehrab projectile, the surface-to-surface Nour (Light), and the coast-to-sea Qader (Capable) missile, with a range of 200 kilometers.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) naval force has also announced that it plans to stage a major new military maneuver in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in February.