MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Tensions flare between the United States and Iran as the ceasefire is set to expire, and the EU is getting ready to rehearse collective defense without NATO. Meanwhile, the US Treasury issues a new Russia-related license authorizing oil sales. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has closed the Strait of Hormuz for all vessels since Saturday evening after the US refused to lift the blockade on Iranian ports, imposed on April 13. The IRGC statement came a day after Tehran allowed all commercial vessels to pass through the waterway by permission after a ceasefire was agreed between the pro-Iranian Shiite group Hezbollah and Iran was reached.
Simultaneously, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council warned in a statement that Tehran will view the US blockade of shipping routes for Iranian vessels as a violation of the ceasefire. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued a similar warning live on the public broadcaster and added that the Iranian military will open fire on US ships if they attempt to clear mines in Iranian waters.
Iran is highly likely to defy US pressure because unblocking Iranian ports is the main task for the Islamic Republic, Ilya Vaskin, junior research fellow at the Center for Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies at Higher School of Economics told Vedomosti. According to him, Tehran would lift its blockade on the Hormuz Strait after the United States demonstrates in practice its willingness to sign a deal. Otherwise, the IRGC will refuse to de-escalate, the expert in Iranian studies warned.
