Recently some mass media contained publications that Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) adopted the law on shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. As the mass media informed before, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Salehi announced that closing the Strait of Hormuz is not likely to happen. The Day addressed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Ukraine Akbar Ghasemi Aliabadi and director of the Middle East Program at the European Council of Foreign Affairs Daniel Levy, and asked them to comment on the adoption of this law and the possibility of it being realized. We also asked them under which conditions Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz.
Akbar Ghasemi ALIABADI:
“Parliament members represent the people of Iran. The government must fulfill all the laws approved by the parliament. Though the parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have not yet discussed some certain steps regarding this matter. The parliament is going to watch the implementation of this law, and we, as one of the government’s structures, must fulfill everything the Majlis sees as reasonable for our country.
“Considering the MFA’s position on shutting the Strait of Hormuz, it should be said that the matter of establishing security in the Persian Gulf is of great importance to us. We are going to use all the resources necessary to maintain the security and effective oil transportation in the region. The actions carried out by the US and European countries threat the security of energy resources supply, energy market, and the oil transportation from the Persian Gulf.
“We think that the process of preserving energy security in the Strait of Hormuz requires collective wisdom and giving up the political tendencies in the energy sector. It should also be realized that European nations are in need of some certain resources, and that the rights of European nations as the main consumers of those resources should be respected. The equality of rights of both producers and consumers should also be kept in mind.”
Daniel LEVY:
“In my opinion, Iran does not plan to send a warning by closing the strait. I am sure Iran will not do that, unless seriously provoked. This is just bluff and ruse from the side of Iranian parliament. In fact, the way the Majlis behaves now is a reflection of the hostile actions performed by the US Congress, which threatens to block the export of Iranian energy sources.
“Both of them [American Congress and Iranian Parliament. – Ed.] are the important factors of the conflict escalation, but they are not the crucial ones, they are not the final step in the decision-making system of either Iran or the US.
“What we should really be afraid of is that the continued escalation of relations between Iran and Israel, and also to some extent with the US creates an extremely dangerous situation, in which even some unplanned escalation or misread signals can cause a conflict. That is why planned actions can have significant impact on global security and economy and especially on energy sources prices in these troubled times of global economic prospects.”
