Iran warns of energy disruption

Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned yesterday that energy shipments from the Gulf region would be disrupted should the country come under attack from the United States, and insisted that Teheran would not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.

"If you make any mistake (invade Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized. You have to know this," Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state-run radio.

Khamenei also warned that, should a disruption occur, the US and its allies would not be able to provide security to all the oil shipments that transit close to Iran's coast. Much of the world's oil supply passes through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and separates Iran from the Arabian peninsula. "You will never be able to protect energy supply in this region. You will not be able to do it," he said, addressing the West.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter and second-biggest power within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iranian officials have repeatedly ruled out using oil as weapon in the nuclear standoff with the West.

Khamenei's warning came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a breakthrough in negotiations over Teheran's contentious nuclear programme was possible and welcomed unconditional talks with all parties, including the United States.

Khamenei, however, did not specify how oil supplies would be disrupted, and insisted Iran would not start any war. "We won't be the initiator of war," he said.

Later yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played down Khamenei's latest comments. "I think that we shouldn't place too much emphasis on a threat of this kind," Rice said on the American cable television "Fox News Sunday" show.

She cited Iran's heavy dependence on oil revenue as a reason for Teheran not to threaten production or shipments. "Obviously it would be a very serious problem for Iran if oil were to be disrupted on the market."

Source: China Daily