(Recasts)DUBAI, April 22 (Reuters) - Tehran is prepared for a U.S.decision to end waivers granted to buyers of Iranian crude, anIranian oil ministry source said on Monday, as the RevolutionaryGuards repeated their threat to close the strategic Strait ofHormuz, Iranian media reported.The United States will fail to cut Iranian oil exports tozero, the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday quoted anunnamed Iranian oil ministry source as saying.
U.S. President Donald Trump has decided not to reissuewaivers in May allowing importers to buy Iranian oil withoutfacing U.S. sanctions, the White House said in a statement onMonday. Separately, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' navy
said Iran would close the Strait if Tehran is barred from usingit. "According to international law, the Strait of Hormuz is amarine passageway and if we are barred from using it, we willshut it down," the semi-official news agency Fars quoted General Alireza Tangsiri as saying on Monday."In case of any threat, we will have not even an iota ofdoubt to protect and defend the Iranian waters," Tangsiri added.Tasnim quoted the unnamed source as saying: "Whether thewaivers continue or not, Iran's oil exports will not be zerounder any circumstances unless Iranian authorities decide tostop oil exports ... and this is not relevant now."
"We have been monitoring and analysing all possiblescenarios and conditions for the advance of our country's oilexports, and necessary measures have been taken ... Iran is notwaiting for America's decision or the lack of it to export itsoil," Tasnim quoted the source as saying."We have years of experience in neutralising efforts byenemies to strike blows against our country," the source added.Iran has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through theStrait of Hormuz, a major oil shipment channel in the Gulf, ifthe United States tries to strangle Tehran's economy by haltingits oil exports.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by David Evans and LouiseHeavens)
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