The United States has sent a letter to Iran regarding its threatened closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday, without revealing the letter's contents.
"The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, sent a letter to Mohammad Khazaie, Iran's UN representative, which was conveyed by the Swiss ambassador, and finally Iraqi President Jalal Talabani delivered its contents to officials" in Iran, the official IRNA news agency quoted Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.
"We are in the process of studying the letter and if necessary we will respond."
The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, and Swiss diplomats handle US interests there.
On Friday, the ‘New York Times’, citing unnamed US officials, reported that Washington had used a secret channel to warn Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that closing the narrow strategic waterway would cross a ‘red line’ and provoke a response.