U.S. General: Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” and the U.S. would take action to reopen it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said.

“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”

Should Iran try to close Hormuz, the U.S. “would take action and reopen” the waterway, said Dempsey, President Barack Obama’s top military adviser.

Blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic shipping lane linking the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, would constitute a “red line” for the U.S., as would Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on the same program.

Continued pressure, rather than threats of air strikes, is the best way to forestall Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Panetta said.

Dempsey suggested that curbing Iran’s nuclear work by bombing its facilities would be difficult.

“I’d rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that. My responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning, to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option,” Dempsey said, Bloomberg reported.