Tehran may demand clearance for Hormuz

TEHRAN

Iranian navy conducts the ‘Velayat-90’ naval wargames in the Strait of Hormuz. ABACA photo

Iran is preparing to ask for permission from all warships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, renewing its warning to the United States to keep its Navy presence out of the oil-rich Gulf yesterday.

The country’s lawmakers are working on a plan to be presented to Parliament’s presiding board next week, an Iranian parliamentary member said. 

“If the military vessels and warships of any country want to pass via the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and permission of Iran’s Navy forces, they should be stopped by the Iranian Armed Forces,” Nader Qazipour told Fars news agency yesterday. 

“Iran will do anything to preserve the security of the Strait of Hormuz” at the entrance to the Gulf, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to the website of Iran’s state television. 

“The presence of forces from beyond the [Gulf] region has no result but turbulence. We have said the presence of forces from beyond the region in the Persian Gulf is not needed and is harmful,” Agence France-Presse reported him as saying yesterday. The U.S. dismissed the Iranian threat, saying it was proof sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program were working. The Pentagon said it would keep sending carrier strike groups through the Gulf regardless of Iran’s warning.