by The American State Secretary Marco Rubio has called China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
His comments came after Iran, run by the State, reported that the Parliament had approved a plan to close the street, but added that the final decision lies with the Supreme National Security Council.
Any disruption of the supply of oil would have in -depth consequences for the economy. China in particular is the world’s largest buyer of Iranian oil and has a close relationship with Tehran.
The oil prices rose after the American attack at Iranian nuclear locations, with the price of the Benchmark Brent Raw Oil and reached the highest level in five months.
‘I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them [Iran] About that, because they are highly dependent on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil, “Rubio had said on Sunday in an interview with Fox News.
“If she [close the Straits]… it will be economic suicide for them. And we retain options to deal with it, but other countries should also look at that. It would damage the economies of other countries a lot worse than ours. “
About 20% of the oil in the world goes through the street of Hormuz, with large oil and gas producers in the middle -east using the Waterweg to transport energy from the region.
Any attempt to disrupt the activities in the Zeestraat can raise global oil prices.
The oil prices jumped short when trade started on Monday, climbing Brent to $ 81.40 per barrel. However, it then slipped back to around $ 78, an increase of 1.4% in the day.
“The US is now positioned with an overwhelming position in the region to be prepared for any counterattacks in Iran. But the risk of oil prices is that the situation can seriously escalate,” says Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Financial.
The costs of crude oil influence everything, how much it costs to fill your car to the price of food in the supermarket.
China in particular buys more oil from Iran than any other country – with its entry from Iran that surpassed 1.8 million barrels per day last month, according to data by the Vortexa tracking company.
Other large Asian economies, including India, Japan and South Korea, are also highly dependent on crude oil that goes through the Zeestraat.
Energy analyst Vandana Hari has said that Iran “has little to win and has too much to lose” from closing the street.
“Iran threatens to turn his oil and gas-producing neighbors into enemies and calls on the anger of his most important market China by disturbing the traffic in the Zeestraat,” Mrs. Hari told BBC News.
[BBC]
The US participated in the conflict between Iran and Israel during the weekend, with President Donald Trump said that Washington had “wished out” the most important nuclear sites of Tehran.
However, it is not clear how much damage the strikes caused, where the UN nuclear watchdog said it was unable to assess the damage on the heavily reinforced Fordo Underground Nuclear site. Iran said there was only minor damage to Fordo.
Trump also warned Iran that it would have to do with “much worse” future attacks if the country would not leave its nuclear program.
On Monday, Beijing said that the American strikes had damaged the credibility of Washington and called for an immediate cease -the fire.
The Chinese UN ambassador FU Cong said that all parties must “limit the impetus of violence … and adding fuel to the fire”, according to a state-running CCTV report.
In a main article, the State newspaper Global Times van Beijing also said that the American involvement in Iran “had further complicated and destabilized” the situation of the middle “and that it pushed the conflict to an” uncontrollable state “.
