Obama 'demands talks' with Iran as it threatens to shut strategic Strait of Hormuz over West sanctions .

                                              
                                                   A shot across the bows?

Obama 'demands talks' with Iran as it threatens to shut strategic Strait of Hormuz over West sanctions .(DailyMail).President Obama has called for direct talks with Iran in a 'secret letter' to the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning Tehran against closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a conservative Iranian lawmaker claimed.
Iran has threatened to close the waterway, the crucial route connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, where about one-sixth of the global oil flows through, because of new U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the country's most powerful military force, says Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the oil route if Iran's oil exports are blocked.
U.S. military officials have made it clear that the country is preparing itself for a possible naval clash if the route is blocked.Today conservative lawmaker Ali Motahari revealed the content of the letter days after the Obama administration said it was warning Iran through public and private channels against any action that threatens the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.
'In the letter, Obama called for direct talks with Iran,' Fars news agency reported.
'The letter also said that closing the Strait of Hormuz is (Washington's) red line.'
'The first part of the letter contains threats and the second part contains an offer for dialogue,' he added.
As the West made the military threat against Iran, Russia refused to back it, warning that it would trigger a 'chain reaction' that could destabilise the world.
Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov insisted that his country was 'seriously worried' about the sanctions against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.And he also warned that stifling the country's economy could hurt the Iranian people.Lavrov said: 'The consequences will be extremely grave," he said. "It's not going to be an easy walk. It will trigger a chain reaction and I don't know where it will stop.'Lavrov, however, said sanctions on Iranian oil exports have 'nothing to do with a desire to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation.''It's aimed at stifling the Iranian economy and the population in an apparent hope to provoke discontent,' the Russian foreign minister said.
Russia believes that 'all conceivable sanctions already have been applied' and that new penalties could derail hopes for continuing six-way negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, provoking Iranian intransigence, Lavrov said.He noted that the EU's consideration of new sanctions comes as Iran plans to host a delegation from the U.N. nuclear watchdog.'We believe that there is every chance to resume talks between the six powers and Iran, and we are concerned about obstacles being put to them.'The sanctions could hardly help make the talks productive,' he said. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said upon arrival in the Turkish capital that Istanbul is the likely venue for further talks with world powers on his country's nuclear program. He did not give a date for the negotiations, but said Turkey is in touch with Iranian and EU officials.Meanwhile, Iran's official IRNA news agency said a senior security official, Ali Bagheri, headed to Moscow for talks with Lavrov and other Russian officials.Read the full story here.

Related - Iranian Submarines' Ambush for US Aircraft Carriers in Persian Gulf.(Fars).
Speaking to FNA on Wednesday, Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army's Self-Sufficiency Jihad Rear Admiral Farhad Amiri said that Iran has the best electronic diesel submarines of the world, adding that enemies, the US in particular, are most focused on Iran's astonishing subsurface capabilities. Amiri underlined that significance of submarines are not just indebted to their arms and equipment, "rather the tactical issues are very important", given the geographical specifications of the waters surrounding the county. "For example," he stated, "if an ordinary submarines can sit in the Persian Gulf's bed it would be the worst threat to the enemy." "That is one of the US concerns since Iranian submarines are noiseless and can easily evade detection as they are equipped with the sonar-evading technology" and can fire missiles and torpedoes simultaneously, he added.
"When the submarine sits on the seabed it can easily target and hit an aircraft carrier traversing in the nearby regions," Amiri reiterated. Speaking on the sidelines of the naval parades in the Sea of Oman at the end of Velayat 90 massive naval drills, Salehi said that the US brought the aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf and the vessel passed through the Strait of Hormoz and stationed in the Sea of Oman before the start of Iran's naval drills. As regards Iran's reaction to the vessel's redeployment, Salehi stated, "We advise, warn and recommend them (US Navy) not to return this carrier to its previous location in the Persian Gulf." "We are not in the habit of repeating the warning and we warn only once," Salehi reiterated, without mentioning the name of the US aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier Salehi was referring to was the USS John C. Stennis, one of the US navy's biggest vessels. Read the full story here.