Adviser to Iran Supreme Leader Compares Control of Hormuz to ‘Atomic Bomb’

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader compared control over the Strait of Hormuz to having an “atomic bomb” on Friday, and vowed not to relinquish it. Adviser Mohammad Mokhber said Iran had long “neglected” its privileged position along the strait, a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments that Tehran shut early in the Middle East war, throwing markets into turmoil and stranding hundreds of vessels. “The Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb,” he said in a video published by the Mehr news agency. “Indeed, having in one’s hands a position that allows you to influence the global economy with a single decision is a major opportunity.” Pledging not to “forfeit the gains of this war”, he went on to say Iran would “change the (legal) regime of this strait”, through international law if possible, and unilaterally if not. Mokhber did not specifically mention charging vessels to use the waterway, but the shipping journal Lloyd’s List reported on Friday that Iran had created an authority to approve transit through the strait and to collect tolls. Iranian officials have previously mentioned implementing such a system, and a senior parliamentarian said in April that Tehran had received its first toll revenue from the strait. The United States, whose joint attacks with Israel on the country sparked the war in the Middle East, has called tolling in the Hormuz unacceptable, as has the UN’s maritime agency. The strait has become a major bargaining chip in negotiations to end the war, with Iran currently weighing a US proposal to extend the current truce in the Gulf to allow talks on a final settlement of the conflict.