BICOM

Iran yesterday threatened to take action if the US Navy moves an aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf, Tehran’s most aggressive statement yet after weeks of sabre rattling as new US and EU financial sanctions take a toll on its economy.

The Pentagon responded to Iran’s warning by stating that the US Navy would continue scheduled deployments to the area, which are carried out in accordance with international law.

A week ago the US aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, and other vessel left the Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz. Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Iranian Fars news agency broadcasted a warning from an Iranian official to the US not to return to the Gulf. No details were given of what action Iran would take if the carrier returned.

US officials consider that the bellicose rhetoric currently being adopted by Iranian spokesmen reflects Iran’s increasingly weak position as sanctions affect its economy and its nuclear programme leads to international isolation.

The West has imposed increasingly tight sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. New US sanctions, signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, would cut financial institutions that work with Iran’s central bank off from the US financial system, blocking the main path for Iran to receive payments for its crude oil. The EU is also expected to impose new sanctions by the end of this month, possibly including a ban on oil imports and a freeze of central bank assets.

The prospect of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector, which makes up at least 60 per cent of its economy, for the first time hit Iran’s currency, which reached a record low on Tuesday and has fallen by 40 per cent against the dollar in the past month.

Iran’s belligerent rhetoric, therefore, appears to be a response to tighter measures by the West, which most likely is an attempt to divert domestic public attention from these realities.