By KUNA,
Manama : Gulf states are involved in extensive informal talks on ways of coping with consequences of a possible military strike on Iran that might prompt the Iranians shut the vital Hormuz Strait, a local newspaper reported.
“Al-Wasat,” in its edition published on Wednesday, quoted a senior Bahraini official as saying that Iran’s possible decision to close the strait would “lead to grave repercussions on states of the region.” The unnmaed local official said “a joint plan” had been drawn up by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on ways of dealing with such a serious eventuality, that would be referred to the GCC Secretariat General, hinting that the blueprint included proposed measures to secure continous outflow of the crude from the region in case the route was closed.
The official stopped short of revealing details of the GCC common plan, adding that the Bahraini authorities were involved in “broad discussions at present on means of containing forecast damage that may result from the closure of Hormuz Strait.” The Bahraini official called for employing diplomacy to “spare the region the ghost of war.” US officials have reacted to Iranian threats to close the southern tip of the Gulf by affirming that Washington will not allow Tehran to close the route, through which up to 40 percent of the globe’s consumption of crude is secured.
Press reports indicated that Kuwait had started preparing plans to secure continous exports of oil via Saudi Arabia, though there has been no official word in this respect yet.
Saudi Arabia puts out some nine million barrels of crude per day while Kuwait produces more than 2.5 million bp.
Iranian leaders had threatened to close Hormuz in case the country was attacked by Israeli or American forces in retaliation for its refrain from halting its nuclear enrichment program.