“Domination of the Strait of Hormuz, which is only route for the transit of more than 40 percent of the world’s energy, has given us strength and capability to the point that Iran holds the world’s economic lifeline and energy security in its powerful grip”, Brigadier General Majid Mir-Ahmadi, deputy commander of the Bassij, told the government-run news agency Fars on Monday. The Bassij, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), are Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“In this way, we can transfer whatever level of pressure exerted on us on the economy of the U.S. and Europe and the security of the Zionist regime (Israel)”, Mir-Ahmadi said.
About two-fifths of the world’s oil supplies pass through the 50-kilometre-wide entrance to the Persian Gulf.
He said that United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737, which was adopted in December and imposed sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, was part of a “psychological warfare” by the West and meant to “install fear” in the minds of the Iranian people.
General Mir-Ahmadi said that the demands of the international community would not end if Tehran adhered to Resolution 1737, adding that further resolutions on separate issues would then appear.
If Iran adhered to the resolution’s demands, he said, “This issue would give impetus to the atmosphere of threats against our country, since the enemy would assess that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been intimidated, thus the enemy would gain hope in its capabilities”.
The IRGC held several series of war-games in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman in 2006.
