After presidential polls, Washington could get tougher with Teheran

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Thursday that a recent US plan to establish a maritime coalition force for escorting ships would not bring security to the Persian Gulf. And on Aug 4, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it had seized another foreign oil tanker, the third in the past month, in the Gulf for "smuggling oil" to Arabian countries.

Teheran has detained foreign tankers to establish itself as the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz, foiling Washington's plan to build a naval alliance to provide protection to ships passing through the Gulf. Iran's counteractions against the US' "maximum pressure", which include seizing oil vessels, shooting down a US drone and threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, are all aimed at sounding out the US bottom line.

Iran will use every possible opportunity before the US presidential campaign to gain the upper hand against the United States and Europe, because it tends to believe that the incumbent US administration will not take any military action against it.