Tensions between the United States and Iran rise on the oil route as the EU tries to save the nuclear deal

LONDON – The US Navy is ready to ensure free movement and commercial traffic, the Central Command of the US Army announced Thursday, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards forbade it to cross the Strait of Liberation. 39; Hormuz. The European Union is proposing a rescue plan for a multinational nuclear deal with Tehran following Washington's withdrawal, but Iranian President Hbadan Rouhani told leaders in Paris and Berlin on Thursday that the package is not going well. Rouhani and some senior military commanders have threatened in recent days to disrupt oil supplies from the Gulf countries if Washington tried to strangle Tehran's exports.

Praying Rohani's "firm stance" against the United States, the leader of the Revolutionary Guards said their forces were ready to block the Strait of Ormuz that connects the Gulf to the sea. 19659004] In May, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement under which sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for checks on his nuclear program. Washington has since told countries that they should stop buying Iranian oil from Nov. 4 or face financial measures.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran's most powerful military force. According to Jafari, the sale of his oil is due to pressure from the United States, no other country in the region will be allowed to do so, said Jafari, quoted by the news agency Tasnim. "We hope that this plan, expressed by our president, will be implemented if necessary," he said. "We will make it clear to the enemy that everyone can use the Strait of Ormuz or nobody."

The Strait is the world's largest oil transit channel with about one-fifth of the world's oil going through each day. 19659004] "The United States and its partners provide and promote security and stability in the region," said Central Command spokesman Bill Urban in an email to Reuters

. He said: "Together we are ready to ensure freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade wherever international law permits."

The naval arm of the Guards lacks a strong conventional fleet. However, it has many fast boats and anti-ship portable missile launchers, and can lay mines.

A senior US military official said that in 2012 the Guards have the ability to block the strait "for a period of time". States would take steps to reopen it in such a case

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The EU, once the largest oil importer of Iran, promised to maintain the Nuclear agreement of 2015 without the United States. keep oil and investment in circulation. The foreign ministers of the five signatory countries will discuss Friday the European proposal with Iranian officials in Vienna

. Rouhani, however, telephoned by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that the overall economic measures did not sufficiently offset the effects of the United States. The withdrawal and reimposition of nuclear sanctions

"The package proposed by Europe for further cooperation in the nuclear agreement does not meet all our demands," said Rouhani on his official website . "We are waiting for a clear action plan from Europe with a timetable so that it can offset the American exit from the deal."

He launched a similar message in an appeal to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The proposed package "only included general promises like previous EU declarations," Rouhani said.

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has imposed conditions on the European powers if they want Tehran to remain in agreement. safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantees for Iranian oil sales.

Rouhani warned Wednesday that Iran could reduce its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if the case collapsed.