Iran will not close oil supply route: analysts

WASHINGTON: Iran has no desire to carry out its threat of closing the Strait of Hormuz to head off fresh Western economic sanctions because doing so would damage the regime's own interests, US-based experts say.

Iran is brandishing the vital shipping route -- a chokepoint for one fifth of the world's traded oil -- as a pawn in the battle being played out against the United States and other leading nations over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

But the potential effects of taking firm action has left Tehran blowing hot and cold on the issue and could be part of a wider series of threats that Iran is willing to make to defend its ground, according to analysts.

"Iran's perception is that the US and its allies are waging economic warfare on the Islamic Republic and that the regime is at risk -- their ability to export oil has always been a red line for them," said Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

But "there are all kinds of reasons why Tehran would probably not close the strait as long as they have the ability to export some oil."

"They also import almost all their products through the ... Gulf, so they would really be a self-inflicted wound on them if they were to do this," Eisenstadt said.

"A more likely possibility is that Iran might engage in harassment of US forces, maybe a covert harassment campaign," he told a conference hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington on Tuesday.

The killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, which Tehran blamed on the United States and Israel, has added to an already heated diplomatic battle over Tehran's nuclear ambitions -- which it insists are for non-military purposes.