Iran hints at more escalation with Gulf violations warning

Bloomberg

Iran is responsible for security in the Persian Gulf and is acting more vigorously to protect it, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said, suggesting that a showdown between his country and Western powers over crucial shipping lanes could escalate.
“We used to overlook some violations but no longer,” Zarif said at a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. Iran has the longest stretch of coastline with the waterway in the region and is responsible for its security, he added.
The remarks indicate that Iran could step up its operations against tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important maritime chokepoint for oil, amid a confrontation with the US over sanctions that have battered the Iranian economy.
The Islamic Republic said it had impounded a third vessel last month, a small oil tanker in the Persian Gulf it suspects of smuggling fuel.
Iran’s state-run Press TV reported that the ship impounded on July 31 was an Iraqi tanker, but Iraq denied that.
Iran began capturing vessels two weeks after UK forces seized an Iranian tanker on July 4 near Gibraltar.
The drama in the region’s waterways has been a dangerous sideshow to the broader confrontation that broke out last year after US President Donald Trump quit the 2015 multipower nuclear deal with Iran and embarked on a crusade to bring Tehran to its knees by choking off the oil exports that are the lifeline of its economy.
In response, Iran has abandoned restrictions on uranium enrichment, downed a US drone and test-fired a ballistic missile.
It’s also been accused of carrying out a number of attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-third of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
The US administration has also imposed unprecedented sanctions against Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters. It also added Zarif to its sanctions list. Zarif was asked to comment on a report in The New Yorker that he had been invited to meet with Trump in the White House last month, with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul extending the offer.
He told reporters that it was his understanding that “Mr Trump isn’t after war,” but that National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu are.
Trump’s declared aim is to negotiate a broader accord that would address elements the original deal did not include, such as Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups in the region such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Zarif rejected the notion that the US is interested in diplomacy, saying Washington can’t expect Tehran to engage in negotiations as long as it engages in “economic terrorism.”
“We had hundreds of hours of negotiations with Americans,” he said. “We are not against talks, but we’ve had talks already — maybe the Americans have idle time, but we don’t.”
Iran’s plan to continue scaling back its commitment to the nuclear deal is not the same as leaving it, but its next step in
reducing compliance won’t be its last, Zarif added, saying the European Union “can’t cite US sanctions for not meeting obligations.”