ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) held military exercises in the Persian Gulf just days before new US sanctions on the nation’s economy take effect. Tehran has threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed on its oil sector. “This exercise was conducted with the aim of controlling and safeguarding the safety of the international waterway and within the framework of the program of the Guards’ annual military exercises,” IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif said on Sunday, according to IRNA. Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari “expressed satisfaction over the successful conduct of the Guards naval exercise, emphasizing the need to maintain and enhance defense readiness and the security of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz and to confront threats and potential adventurous acts of enemies,” IRNA quoted Sharif as saying. The annual exercises have been held earlier than previous years, possibly in response to rising tensions with the US. They come in a context of intense diplomatic saber-rattling. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned the US will face “the mother of all wars” if it continues to isolate Iran diplomatically and target its economy. “Do not play with lion’s tale,” he told Washington in July. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May and introduced a raft of new economic sanctions, the first of which are due to take effect on Monday, targeting various Iranian sectors, particularly oil. While visiting Austria in early July to rally European signatories to salvage the nuclear deal, Rouhani hinted Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz if the US sanctions Iranian oil sales, bringing a vital global trade route to a standstill. “Anyone who understands the rudiments of politics doesn’t say ‘we will stop Iran’s oil exports’ ... we have been the guarantor of the regional waterway’s security throughout history,” Rouhani said. Both Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the republic’s top Guards commander Qassem Soleimani have praised Rouhani’s tough language. As a major international trade route, connecting ports in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to the open sea, the Strait of Hormuz is a major strategic pressure point that Iran has frequently exploited. Any attempt to blockade the route, which is just 30 miles wide at its narrowest point, would seriously disrupt international trade and the oil market, as 20 percent of oil traded worldwide moves through the waterway, according to the US Energy Information Administration. It could easily escalate into an armed confrontation.
