Another Red Sea Target Under Fire, Iranian Terrorist General Soleimani Threatens
Iran Focus
London, 28 July - General Qassem Soleimani commander of the Iranian Regime’s terrorist Quds force threatened President Trump this week, targeting a major Red Sea chokepoint.
"The Red Sea which was secure is no
longer secure for the presence of American (military) ... The Quds force
and I are your match. We don't go to sleep at night before thinking
about you,” Iran's top general said in a speech from Hamedan, Iran, in which, according to local media, he addressed the American president directly.
"If you begin the war, we will end the war.”
Soleimani was responding to Trump’s
Sunday tweet warning that Iran would face "consequences the likes of
which few throughout history have ever suffered before.” Trump’s tweet
was prompted by a speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatening
that war with Iran would be "the mother of all wars.”
Soleimani's mention of the Red Sea
signaled Iran’s willingness to disrupt oil shipments in the Bab
el-Mandeb Strait — the world's fourth-largest oil chokepoint — via its
proxies there.
It is believed that Iran will use
Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are already ramping up missile attacks on
Saudi targets. On Wednesday, Riyadh announced that two Saudi oil
carriers were attacked by Houthi missile strikes in the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait, which separates Yemen and East Africa and connects the Gulf of
Aden to the Red Sea. The kingdom has temporarily suspended all oil
shipments through the pass.
Soleimani's direct reference to the Bab
el-Mandeb on Thursday, "is a signal that Tehran has options for
escalation.” Bab el-Mandeb sees about 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of
oil, which is small compared to the 17 million that passes through the
Strait of Hormuz, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Increased Houthi rebel attacks on
tankers heightens the chance that one will actually be sunk. Then, the
U.S. could be forced to become more actively engaged. As well, crisis in
the Bab el-Mandeb causes fears over Hormuz and drives oil prices up.
The U.S. is preparing to reimpose
sanctions on Iran as part of its withdrawal from the JCPOA (Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, that
allowed economic relief for Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear
program. The Trump administration has mandated that all countries wind
their imports of Iranian crude down to zero by November 4th, in addition
to deploying sanctions on a range of other products and financial
activities.
Iran threatens that if it is unable to
trade its oil, other countries will be stopped as well, citing its
willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 30 percent
of the world's oil shipments pass.
Comments
Post a Comment