BRINKSMANSHIP

Iran: Oil Strait Will ‘Definitely’ Close

After EU embargoes Iran oil.

Two Iranian lawmakers are vowing that the country will shut off the Strait of Hormuz if the international community limits the sale of Iranian oil—which is exactly what the European Union did Monday. The EU has agreed on an oil embargo against Tehran as part of sanctions over the country’s nuclear program, which means that new contracts on Iranian crude will be banned and existing ones will run out in July. Lawmaker Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, the deputy head of Iran's national security committee, said the strait "would definitely be closed if the sale of Iranian oil is violated in any way." "In case of threat, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is one of Iran's rights," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, another senior lawmaker, said. The U.S. has repeatedly said it would not tolerate the blocking of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil flows—Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called the move a “red line.”