US upping the ante

U.S. Fifth Fleet says won't allow Hormuz disruption

The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it would not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the world's most important oil route.

Reuters,

28 December, 2011

"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated," the Bahrain-based fleet said in an e-mail.

Iran, at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear program, said on Tuesday it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.

"Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water," Iran's navy chief Habibollah Sayyari told Iran's English-language Press TV on Wednesday.

"But right now, we don't need to shut it ...," said Sayyari, who is leading 10 days of exercises in the Strait.

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From Iran's Press TV

and comments on RT

Dec 27, 2011 Iran 'to block Hormuz strait' if sanctions applied