"If Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz, it will lead to a very, very strong reaction," Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubair said. "We need calm in the region, but we can not do that with Iran doing a lot of harm."
Al-Jubeir stressed in a press conference with a number of Arab and international media on the sidelines of an official visit to the British capital London that Saudi Arabia does not want a war with Iran and that the international community is determined to confront Tehran's hostile behavior.
Saudi Arabia is consulting with allies to secure waterways and is considering multiple options, he said, adding that there was enough evidence that Iran was behind recent attacks on oil tankers and that Iran's attacks on shipping routes were affecting the world.
He pointed out in this regard that four oil tankers in the territorial waters of the UAE and two carriers in the Gulf of Oman for subversive attacks in two separate incidents pointed fingers at Iran in those attacks, demanding Iran to change its aggressive behavior and stop supporting terrorism and "return normal state."
With regard to influencing the positions of the superpowers, al-Jubair said it was absurd to imagine that any party would try to drag superpowers into a war with Iran.
On the judgment handed down by the British Supreme Court to review the licenses to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, al-Jubeir explained that the British ruling on arms sales is procedural and internal.