Iran raises specter of damage to world oil shipping: analysts

LONDON (AFP) — Amid concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, analysts are worried it could resort to a wide range of weapons and tactics to disrupt the world's busiest oil shipping lanes if armed conflict erupts with the United States.

Because its shores line the narrow Straits of Hormuz, Iran could quickly hit both military and commercial shipping with missiles launched from land, air or sea as well as cripple maritime traffic with mines or sunken ships, they said.

Despite a technological edge, US and allied navies would have less time to react to such threats in the lanes between the Gulf and the Indian Ocean than in, say, neighboring Iraq, Washington-based analyst Andrew Koch said.

"You don't have a lot of maneuvering room," Koch, senior vice president for defense and homeland security at Scribe Strategies and Advisors, told AFP.

Iran is also better armed than it ...