NEW YORK, Feb 18: Iran has acquired the military capability to temporarily halt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf choke point through which an estimated 40 per cent of the world's oil supply passes , if attacked by the United States or Israel, American intelligence experts have said.

The Wall Street Journal quoting US intelligence sources said on Thursday that the interruption of the flow of oil from the gulf would have an immediate effect on world economy.

Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, was quoted as saying by the WSJ that Iran augmented its small naval forces last year by purchasing North Korean torpedo and missile boats as well as small submarines. "We judge Iran can briefly close the Strait of Hormuz, relying on layered strategy using predominantly naval air and ground forces."

Admiral Jacob said that if Iran was not constrained by the nuclear proliferation treaty it could produce a nuclear weapon in the next decade. But Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom said that Israel believed Iran could produce a weapons within six months.