Warships and submarines spread out across the wide stretch of water from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Aden on Saturday as the Iranian Navy kicked off a 10-day round of war games. The military drill, dubbed “Velayat-e 90,” has raised concerns over a possible closure of the world’s most strategic oil transit choke point in the event of any future conflict between Tehran and the West.

The commander of the Iranian Navy, Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, said on December 22 that the war games would be conducted off the coasts of India, Pakistan, Oman, Yemen and northern Somalia. The purpose of the maneuvers, he said, was to display the prowess of Iran’s armed forces and to demonstrate the navy’s capacity to provide security for vessels sailing on the open seas.

Some analysts and diplomats, including a number of Iranian lawmakers, believe that these exercises are less about demonstrating Iran’s capacity to keep the seas open and more about demonstrating Iran’s capacity to close down the Strait of Hormuz in the event of any future conflict with the West.

“Soon we will hold a military maneuver on how to close the Strait of Hormuz,” a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, Parviz Sarvari, said on December 12. “If the world wants to make the region insecure, we will make the world insecure.”

Another lawmaker made similar comments before the Iranian Parliament on December 18. “If an oil embargo is placed on Iran, we will not allow a single barrel of oil to pass through here to the belligerent countries,” said Isa Ja’fari. “America should know that the world’s energy gullet, that is to say, the Strait of Hormuz, is in our hands.”

Hormuz is one of the world’s most important oil choke points, with a daily flow of about 15 million barrels passing through it. According to an analyst at Stratfor, that accounts for 90 percent of Persian Gulf exports and 40 percent of global consumption. With these statistics in mind, it is easy to see how even the threat of such a naval blockade could wreak havoc on oil prices.

While there are many who doubt that Iran actually has the military capacity to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for an extended period of time, it must be remembered that when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, global oil prices more than doubled on the mere expectation of future shortages.

Also, now that Islamist governments are getting control of Libya, Egypt, Eritrea and Yemen, Iran is gaining greater influence over the northern and southern entrances to the Red Sea.

For Europe and America, Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb would be a strategic and economic catastrophe. The Iranian mullahs know this and are wasting no time in acquiring such control. Iran’s leaders may not currently have the power to keep these sea gates closed for an extended period of time, but they are swiftly moving in that direction.

When you add such a threat to a global economy already ailing from a eurozone sovereign debt crisis and an astronomically high United States budget deficit, you get a potential economic disaster of apocalyptic proportions.

If Iran gets control of these trade routes, it could unleash massive chaos in both Europe and America. Undoubtedly, America lacks the will power to tackle this problem. Therefore it is all the more important to watch Europe closely. Bible prophecy reveals that as American society unravels, a German-led European empire will rise up and clash with an Iranian-led Islamic caliphate.

For a more detailed explanation of these prophecies, read “Libya and Ethiopia Reveal Iran’s Military Strategy” and then carefully study the booklet The King of the South by editor in chief Gerald Flurry.