LONDON, March 1. /TASS/. The Strait of Hormuz remains open to oil tankers, General Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite unit of the Iranian Armed Forces) said as quoted by the Financial Times.

As he said, the government will allow ships to transit this strategically important strait, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and further to the Indian Ocean, "until further notice."

At the same time, he announced that the American military and their contingent in the region are now considered "legitimate targets" for Tehran.

The day before, Major General Ebrahim Jabari of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (an elite unit of the armed forces) warned that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed to shipping following an attack on Iran. Analysts warned that if this scenario were to unfold, the price of Brent crude oil on London's ICE exchange could jump by almost a third, reaching over $90 per barrel when trading opens on March 2. Approximately 30% of global seaborne oil trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz.