Posted 14.07.2012 14:01:31 UTC
Updated 14.07.2012 14:11:24 UTC
As tensions simmer over Tehran's nuclear programme, Iran says it will increase its military presence in international waters, said Ali Fadavi, naval commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“If they (the U.S.) do not obey international laws and the IRGC's warnings, it will have very bad consequences for them,” Fadavi said, according to Iran's Fars News Agency.
“The IRGC's naval forces have had the ability since the (Iran-Iraq) war to completely control the Strait of Hormuz and not allow even a single drop of oil to pass through."
Fadavi added: "IRGC special naval forces are present on all of the Islamic Republic of Iran's ships in the Indian Ocean and to its east and west, to prevent any movement.
"This IRGC naval force presence in international waters will increase."
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel, through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports passes, in retaliation for sanctions placed on its crude exports by Western powers.
Agencies