Deputy Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said Monday the United States cannot hinder Iran's efforts to shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Tehran deems it necessary, the local satellite Press TV reported.

"Regardless of their publicity campaigns and propaganda efforts, the Americans are incapable of confronting Iranian actions in a number of spheres, including the potential plan (by Iran) to shut down the Strait of Hormuz," Jazayeri was quoted as saying.

The principal objective of Iran in the region is to defuse tensions, Jazayeri said, adding that however, should the country's national interests come under threat, Iran's armed forces will utilize their defensive capabilities to defend the country's sovereignty.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed on Sunday that Iran had received a letter from the United States over the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday, the New York Times reported that the United States had used a secret channel to send a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the country's threats of closing the strategic passage of the Strait of Hormuz. The report said that in the letter the United States warned closing the Strait would be crossing a "red line" and it would provoke a response.

Recently, some government and military officials of the Islamic republic threatened that Iran would close the Hormuz Strait if its oil exports were blocked by the West.

Following an International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran' s nuclear program in November, the United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions against Tehran and still are working to impose an embargo on Iran's crude exports.