Petraeus Says Iran No Threat Now to Oil Traffic in Persian Gulf

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(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s naval forces pose no current threat to oil shipments through the Persian Gulf, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East said today.

“I don’t think we have any concerns about disruption to the navigation” in the Gulf, Army General David Petraeus said in an interview. “Certainly nothing from Iran.”

Iran’s naval forces have been quiet in the 15 months since U.S. officials say they challenged three U.S. Navy warships briefly in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. Five Iranian “fast boats” in January 2008 confronted the vessels in the 33-mile-wide waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, which is the sea route for almost a quarter of the world’s daily supply of oil.