Tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to mount amid US threats to bring Iranian oil exports down “to zero” and Iranian officials’ warnings that the country may close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if its security was threatened.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif does not believe that a war between Iran and the US was imminent or inevitable, but does not exclude the possibility of some “accident” ‘spiraling’ into a military conflict.
Zarif also recalled a January 2016 incident in which two US Navy vessels entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf and were detained by the IRGC. Here it was possible to avoid escalation thanks to the existence of a direct line of communication between Zarif and then-Secretary of State John Kerry. “But today there is no such line of communication between the Iranian foreign minister and US Secretary of State. So a similar incident in the Persian Gulf could quickly get out of hand,” The Independent noted.
Long-standing tensions between Iran and the United States took a turn for the worse in May 2018, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and began slapping Iran with several rounds of sanctions, including energy restrictions aimed at bringing Iran’s oil exports down “to zero”, as well as banking restrictions and other measures meant to cripple the country’s economy.