Kuwait FM blasts Iran threat to shut Gulf strait

AP: Kuwait's foreign minister says Iran's renewed threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf amount to a "punishment" of its Arab neighbors.

The Associated Press

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Kuwait's foreign minister says Iran's renewed threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf amount to a "punishment" of its Arab neighbors.

Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah says in comments published Wednesday in Kuwait's Aljarida daily that the latest threats are "odd," because Arab Gulf states support a peaceful nuclear program in Iran.

Tehran reiterated this week that, if attacked, it could shut the narrow waterway along Iran's southern coast, through which up to 40 percent of the world's oil passes. Such a move would send oil prices skyrocketing.

Iran rejects Western accusations it is trying to produce nuclear weapons and insists its program is for producing electricity only.