General Alireza Tangsiri, who heads the navy of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards, declared that Iran had full control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it. Tangsiri further emphasized that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards had the capacity to block the strait, effectively thwarting crucial maritime shipping between East and West. The comments by the Navy Commander of Iran’s revolutionary guards came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has suggested that his country could take military action in the Gulf to block other countries’ oil exports in retaliation for U.S. sanctions intended to halt its sales of crude oil. To thwart such the Iranian threat from realizing, the United States has maintained a fleet in the Gulf to protect the critical oil shipping-routes.
