Iran receives US letter over Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed on Sunday that Iran has received a letter from the United States over Strait of Hormuz, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mehmanparast said that the US administration forwarded the letter to Iran through three channels. It delivered a copy of the letter to Iran via Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, delivered another copy to the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei, and the third copy was delivered to Iran by Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Livia Leu Agosti, said IRNA.

"The Islamic republic is studying the letter and will respond to it if it is necessary," Mehmanparast said.

Mehmanparast did not elaborate on the content of the US letter but, on Friday, the New York Times reported that the US had used a secret channel to send a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the country's threats of closing the strategic passage of Strait of Hormuz. The report said that in the letter US warned that closing the Strait would be crossing a "red line" and it would provoke a response.

Some government and military officials of the Islamic republic have threatened that Iran will close the Hormuz Strait if its oil exports are sanctioned by the West.

Following an International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran' s nuclear program in November, the United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions against Tehran.

In December, US President Barack Obama signed a wide-ranging defense funding bill, calling for new sanctions against financial institutions doing business with Iran's state banking institutions.

The bill, approved by the US congress, aimed at reducing Tehran's oil revenues but gave the US president powers to waive penalties as required.

European Union foreign ministers will discuss further sanctions and a possible oil embargo against Iran at a meeting on January 23 in Brussels, in an effort to put pressure on the country for its nuclear program.