White House Warns Iran, Says Closing Hormuz Strait ‘Would Be Foolish’

The White House has warned Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz in response to recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian military and nuclear targets. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council is deliberating blocking the channel, which forms a choke point for oil and gas shipped out of the Middle East through the Persian Gulf. Nearly 20 percent of global oil and gas exports flow through this critical waterway. Closure could disrupt supply and drive up prices. Iranian state media cited Esmail Kosari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, as saying that the parliament has “come to the conclusion we should close the Strait of Hormuz, but the final decision in this regard is the responsibility of the Supreme National Security Council.”...