Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian MP Hossein Ebrahimi, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee. The interview aired on Al-Alam TV on January 24, 2012.

Hossein Ebrahimi: [Closing the Hormuz Strait] is the prerogative of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic, in the event that our interests are threatened, and the export of Iranian oil is blocked. If we cannot export our oil, I expect that the oil of other countries will not pass through these waters either - especially not through the Hormuz Strait, because Iran controls it.

This is indeed one of the strategic plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We will not allow countries from all corners of the world to give orders to the countries of the Persian Gulf, thus jeopardizing our national interests. We will never let this happen. If we see that our national interests are in danger, and that the [West] is serious about disrupting the export of Iranian oil, we will jeopardize their interests as well, and they should know this.

If they undertake this measure, I personally believe that in addition to closing the Hormuz Strait, the Persian Gulf will be turned into a graveyard for the forces coming from all corners of the earth to this sensitive region.

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