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Iran Threatens to Block Vital Oil Shipping Route
(New York Times) Rick Gladstone - Tensions between Iran and the U.S. are showing signs of worsening, with Lt. Cmdr. Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Persian Gulf oil shipping route, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei questioning the longstanding deployment of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in the region. The Iranians are also seething over an April 20 Supreme Court ruling that permitted the use of nearly $2 billion in seized Iranian assets to compensate American victims of overseas attacks that U.S. officials have attributed to Iran. Last week, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the ruling a crime and an example of American arrogance.