A TOP adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday that the recent letter of the United States to the Islamic republic’s supreme leader has nothing new, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

    Asked by the reporters about the content of the U.S. letter, Ali-Abar Velayati said “this letter bears no new words.”

    Velayati did not elaborate further on the content of the letter, said Fars.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed Sunday that Iran had received a letter from the United States over Strait of Hormuz.

    The New York Times reported Friday that the United States had used a secret channel to send a letter to Khamenei over Iran’s threats of closing the strategic waterway of the Strait of Hormuz. The report said the United States warned in the letter that closing the strait would be crossing a “red line” and would provoke a response.

    Some Iranian government and military officials have threatened that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz if its oil exports are sanctioned by the West. <2001>(SD-Agencies)