The U.S. secretary of state said it would be ‘economic suicide’ If Iran were to shut down the narrow waterway.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says China should encourage Iran not to close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy corridors connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
Rubio made the comments in an interview on Fox News on June 22, a day after Iran’s state-run Press TV reported that Tehran had approved a measure to close the strait, pending a final decision by the country’s Supreme National Security Council.
“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil,” Rubio said.
The U.S. military forces bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight on June 21–22. In response to the U.S. military, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened that his country “reserves all options to defend its sovereignty,” according to Iran International.
Rubio said Iran would be making another “terrible mistake,” should the regime proceed to shut down the strait.
“It’s economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries’ economies a lot worse than ours,” Rubio added. “It would be, I think, a massive escalation that would merit a response, not just by us, but from others.”
According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an average of 20.9 million barrels of oil passed through the strait daily in 2023, accounting for about 20 percent of the global petroleum liquids consumption and more than 25 percent of global maritime oil trade.
The majority of Iran’s oil exports go to China, and the U.S. government has sanctioned Chinese entities for buying Iranian oil.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, was asked about Iran’s decision and Rubio’s comments during a daily briefing on Monday. Guo said maintaining stability at the Persian Gulf and its nearby waters was important and that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had spoken to Araghchi on the phone.
Robin Brooks, senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution, said China might support Iran’s potential decision to shut down the strait, according to a post on social media platform X on June 22.
By Frank Fang
