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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on China to prevent Iran from closing the Hormuz Strait, one of the most important shipping roads in the world.
His comments came after public press television by state of state reported that Parliament had approved a plan to close the Strait, but added that the final decision lies in the Supreme National Security Council.
Any disruption of the oil supply would have deep consequences for the economy. China in particular is the largest world buyer in Iranian oil and has a close relationship with Tehran.
Oil prices increased following the American attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the price of the British reference crude reaching its highest level in five months.
“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them (Iran) on this subject because they depend strongly on the Hormuz Strait for their oil,” said Marco Rubio in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“If they [close the Straits]… it will be economic suicide for them. And we keep options to face it, but other countries should also examine this. This would affect the economy of other countries much worse than ours. “”
About 20% of world oil goes through the Hormuz Strait, with the main oil and gas producers in the Middle East using the navigable path to transport the energy of the region.
Any attempt to disrupt operations in the Strait could send world oil prices.
They have jumped at their highest level since January, the price of crude Brent reaching $ 78.89 per barrel at 23:22 GMT on Sunday.
“The United States is now positioned with an overwhelming defense posture in the region to be prepared for any counterattack of Iran. But the risk of oil prices is that the situation could increase more,” said Saul Kavonic, energy research manager at MST Financial.
The cost of crude oil affects everything, of the quantity it costs to fill your car at the cost of food at the supermarket.
China buys in particular more oil from Iran than any other nation – its oil imports from Iran exceeding 1.8 million barrels per day last month, according to data from the Vortexa ship’s monitoring company.
Other major Asian economies, including India, Japan and South Korea, also depends strongly on crude oil passing through the Strait.
Energy analyst Vandana Hari said that Iran had “little to gain and too much to lose” to close the Strait.
“Iran is likely to transform its neighbors producing oil and gas into the Gulf into enemies and to invoke the anger of its key market in China by disturbing traffic in the Strait,” Hari in BBC News told.
The United States joined the conflict between Iran and Israel during the weekend, President Donald Trump saying that Washington had “erased” the main nuclear sites in Tehran.
However, it is not clear how much damage the strikes have inflicted, the UN nuclear guard dog saying that it was unable to assess the damage on the Fordo Fortified Fordo underground site. Iran said there were only minor damage to Fordo.
Trump also warned Iran that they would face future “very worse” attacks if they did not give up their nuclear program.
Beijing said on Monday that American strikes damaged Washington’s credibility and called for an immediate cease-fire.
The UN ambassador to China, FU Cong, said that all parties should retain “the impetus of force … and the addition of fuel to the fire”, according to a video surveillance report by the state.
In an editorial, the Beijing Global Times State Journal also said that participation in the United States in Iran “had still complicated and destabilized the situation in the Middle East” and that it pushed the conflict to an “uncontrollable state”.
