Iran's Supreme National Security Council must make the final decision on whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Press TV said on Sunday, after parliament reportedly approved the measure.
The decision to close the strait, through which around 20% of global oil and gas demand flows, is not yet final.
But lawmaker and Revolutionary Guards Commander Esmail Kosari told the Young Journalist Club on Sunday that doing so is on the agenda and "will be done whenever necessary."
During Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi's visit in Istanbul on Saturday for a meeting with Arab League diplomats to discuss Tehran's escalating conflict with Israel, the diplomat maintained that Iran faces various options, but highlighted diplomacy remained a priority to Tehran.
"There are a variety of options available to us- and that’s it ... of course the way for diplomacy should always remain open, but we are not in a situation right now to decide how to engage in diplomacy once again and with whom, so let’s wait for our response," Araghchi said in a speech in Istanbul.
Prior to US attacks on Thursday, Iran said it would shut the Strait of Hormuz as a way of hitting back against its enemies, a senior lawmaker said, though a second member of parliament said this would only happen if Tehran's vital interests were endangered.
Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure, and shipping sources said on Wednesday that commercial ships were avoiding Iran's waters around the strait.
"Iran has numerous options to respond to its enemies and uses such options based on what the situation is," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Behnam Saeedi, a member of the parliament's National Security Committee presidium as saying.
"Closing the Strait of Hormuz is one of the potential options for Iran," he said.
Maersk vessels continue to sail through the Strait of Hormuz but the company was ready to re-evaluate this based on available information, the group said in a statement on Sunday, following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities overnight.
"We will continuously monitor the security risk to our specific vessels in the region and are ready to take operational actions as needed," the Danish container shipping company said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday called on China to encourage Iran to not shut down the Strait of Hormuz, during an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" show.
"I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil," said Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser.
"If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that, but other countries should be looking at that as well. It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours."
Rubio said a move to close the strait would be a massive escalation that would merit a response from the U.S. and others.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately provide comment.
The Strait of Hormuz lies between Oman and Iran and is the primary export route for Gulf producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Kuwait.
About 20% of the world’s daily oil consumption — around 18 million barrels — passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which is only about 33 km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point.