United States threats to throttle Iran’s international oil trade can be easily answered, the head of the elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim News Agency. US officials are stepping up diplomatic efforts to pressure countries to stop buying Iranian oil. “If the adventure-seeking president of the US hears about the IRGC’s capabilities today, which have been achieved through endeavors and the will of young revolutionary experts…, he will never make such a mistake (threatening Iran) and will realize that responding to any oil threat will be easy (for Iran),” IRGC commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday tacitly backed President Hassan Rouhani’s suggestion that Iran could block oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz if its own exports are disrupted. US-Iranian relations haveplunged to new lows since President Donald Trump broke with European allies in May and pulled out of a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran. Trump’s administration has also called on all its allies to stop buying Iranian oil.
