The commander of the fleet of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, said today that the Israeli presence in the United Arab Emirates is viewed by Tehran as a “threat”, leaving open the possibility of closing the Straits of Hormuz if deemed necessary.

Tehran has threatened retaliation for the strike in the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which is attributed to Israel. The April 1 attack killed seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, including two high-ranking officers, adding fuel to the fire of confrontation between the two countries that had already escalated since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.

“We do not leave unanswered the blows we receive, but we do not act hastily in our retaliation,” Alireza Tangsiri was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency.

“We can close the Straits of Hormuz, but we don’t make him. However, if the enemy comes to upset us, we will review our policy”, he underlined.

About 1/5 of the volume of global oil consumption passes daily through the Straits of Hormuz. An average of 20.5 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily in the period January-September 2023, according to data from the analysis company Vortexa.

The UAE is one of three Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords (2020), although Abu Dhabi also maintains diplomatic and trade relations with Iran.

“We know that they did not bring the Zionists to the UAE for economic purposes, but for security and defense issues. It is a threat to us,” the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fleet stressed.