SHANGHAI, June 24. /TASS/. The economy of Iran will be highly affected in case Tehran closes the Strait of Hormuz, Senior Fellow of the Center for International Security and Strategy at the Tsinghua University Zhou Bo told TASS.

"If Iran blocks the strait, this will not merely have significant influence on the international situation and oil prices but the economy of Iran itself. Therefore, I am not confident that Iran will go so far," Zhou said. Tehran’s rhetoric on the Strait of Hormuz may simply be a political gesture and the strategy of talks, he noted.

In times of the standoff between the US and the USSR, not a single side blocked any strait globally, the expert added.