Iran renews threat to close Hormuz

Khorasan daily reported Sunday that Ali Ashraf Nouri said the strategic decision had been made by Iran's top authorities.
Iranian politicians have made the threat in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet that a closure of the strait is official policy.
The United States has recently enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad over Tehran's nuclear program. Washington says Tehran is trying to develop weapons, while Iran denies the charges.
On Thursday, Iran said it was planning new military exercises near the strategic strait. One sixth of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. The semiofficial Fars news agency late Thursday quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' naval commander, Adm. Ali Fadavi, as saying that the upcoming exercise would be the seventh staging of an annual drill called "The Great Prophet."