Source: NY Times:
Iran’s threat to shut the Strait of Hormuz— one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes through there — if the United States and Europe press ahead with new sanctions is unacceptable. The Obama administration is right to signal, in deliberately moderated ways, that Washington will not back off if Tehran ever attempts to carry it out. A show of American naval force kept the strait open to oil tankers during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. A Fifth Fleet spokeswoman usefully reminded Iran this week that the Navy always stands “ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation.” Oil markets reacted calmly, at least for now, with no price spikes.
Whether or not Tehran is bluffing (or trying to drive up oil prices), Washington will not back down and Europe should not. More than five years after the United Nations Security Council ordered it to stop, Iran is still enriching uranium and mastering other technologies that would allow it to build a nuclear weapon. According to the latest report from United Nations inspectors, Iran has created computer models of nuclear explosions, conducted experiments on nuclear triggers and completed advanced research on a warhead that could be delivered by a medium-range missile.
Why is one threat (of sanctions) permissible and another threat (of closing the oil-routes) not?