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Keep in mind, Iran can't simply 'block the strait' with a minefield in a vacuum. While most people here are familiar with the military aspect of blocking the straits, both tactical and strategical, if Iran was to mine the Strait of Hormuz it would be a legal declaration of war on all Gulf States, and any other country worldwide that utilizes the Strait for free maritime trade. In legal terms, it would be a declaration of war against all of Europe, Asia, and most countries in all of North and South America.
During the cold war the UN spent considerable time creating a "Law of the Sea" to regulate international choke points in an attempt to create a unified position in international law regarding their status. The Law of the Sea established international law in peacetime and wartime to insure that choke points were not centers of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war, largely in an effort to avoid the international disaster of a nuclear exchange. The Law of the Sea regulates using International Law as a foundation a great number of things regarding military activity in these locations, including making laying of sea mines illegal.
Mining the Strait would be a violation of International Law so enormous the UN wouldn't have any option but to condemn Iran, no matter how much they hate America. If the UN failed to stand firm regarding the Law of the Sea, Russia, France, and China would basically lose the UN as a credible international institution, and a great deal of International Law could then be thrown away as toilet paper.
It may not mean much to Islamic radicals without a state, but I can't imagine any legitimate state being able to give any political assistance to Iran if they mine the strait, short of the US nuking Tehran. Sure, it is nice strategy strictly on military doctrine, but it would be an enormous political and legal catastrophe for Iran.
The Law of the Sea is available on the UN website for those who want to review.
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