DUBAI ¨C Control over the Strait of Hormuz has become a ¡°golden weapon¡± to Iran, for which it is willing to risk new escalations with the United States, and is a bigger priority than a nuclear program for which it accepted decades of sanctions.
So central is the issue to Iranian strategy that ships passing the Strait without Tehran¡¯s approval were fired upon this week, leading to an exchange of fire with the United States that threatens last month¡¯s interim peace deal.
Iranian leaders, who had demurred for years ?from choking off the fifth of global energy supplies passing through Hormuz, now see it as their strongest card in a host of disputes with the West, and the ?reason Washington ?ended the war.
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