“The naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have managed to thwart an attempt by the United States to take over a giant oil tanker in the strategic Sea of Oman and moved the vessel to Iranian territorial waters.
The US military confiscated the Iranian tanker loaded with crude oil in the Sea of Oman, which connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, and intended to unload its shipment to another tanker and direct it to an unknown destination.
Reacting promptly, however, members of the IRGC’s Navy carried out a heliborne operation on the stolen ship’s deck, gained control of the vessel, and directed it back toward Iran’s territorial waters.
US forces then proceeded to chase the tanker using several helicopters and warships, but their attempt at taking over the vessel for a second time was thwarted again by Iranian naval forces.
The tanker is currently in Iranian territorial waters and under the protection of IRGC’s Navy.”
—
Also relevant these two tweets from Seyed Marandi
My information: The US stole a tanker on its way to Venezuela with Iranian fuel. The captain/crew betrayed Iran & aided the US. The regime stole & sold the Iranian fuel. Now the tanker with the same captain & crew & under US military protection has been seized by the IRGC Navy
Aljazeera Arabic asked me to immediately talk about the events in the Persian Gulf. I agreed & missed an important meeting. I waited for the interview, but no one contacted me or responded. Now they say they must wait for the US regime’s side of the story before they invite me.
https://twitter.com/s_m_marandi/status/1455850105886629889
https://twitter.com/s_m_marandi/status/1455849731855368193
YES!!!! Righteous!
It is very strange that the US government feels that its laws extend to Iran and Venezuela – and the intervening regions – and that it is entitled to steal the property of other nations.
It is even stranger that hardly anyone in the laughingly called “international community” seems to see a problem there, or to call the Americans out on their arrogant criminal behaviour.
Apparently the Melian Dialogue applies again: “[R]ight, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.
That being so, is it time for oil and other essential products to be carried to Venezuela in Russia tankers? Or, failing that, in convoys escorted by Russian and/or Chinese warships?
It’s not strange because the US government has been doing that for years thanks to the extrateritoriality of the dollar. They use that to impose sanctions. When sanctions fail they switch to military threats and provocations. And the irony is that they talk about freedom of navigation while conducting acts of piracy.
The US wants to force Iran to accept limitations not only on its nuclear program but also on its missile development and its foreign policy. Iran refuses to negociate on these 2 last points so the US escalates just like it does with Russia and China.
If what marandi says is true then the crew of the tanker will have to face the consequences of what it did. This should prevent other crews to do the same.
What s happening is not surprising because Iran is not showing interest in jcpoa negociations and the US wants to put pressure on the iranian government.
With its actions since 2014 the US created a 3 fronts war: Russia in Europe China in Asia and Iran in the middle east. They refuse to negociate anything and they escalate year after year. Things look bad.
Reading the comments of a military article published this morning on ARSTechnica, usually quite an educated lot in STEMS, one quickly gets an understanding that the U.S. has discarded all pretensions about ethics and international law.
This lot, seems to follow these principle:
1. War in inevitable
2. War is business
3. The US would have won every conflict if the governments did not care about human rights (as in, carpet bombing like in WW2).
With some reflection, a few more things also become clear:
1. Few understand history.
2. Fewer realize the political and economical condition of the U.S.
2. Even fewer have direct experience of the misery of war.
3. Almost none understand the political repercussions of such a belligerent attitude. As Mackinder had predicted, America is quickly becoming irrelevant in the world stage, an isolated island. And with all these sanctions and using the dollar as a financial weapon, the U.S. expedites its own demise.
The article’s comment section:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/11/jadc2-and-the-future/?comments=1&sort=high#comments
#AspenSecurity conference underway.
Gen Miley comments being live twitered by many.
Here’s one:
#Iran “does not want & know its not in their interest to have an open kinetic fight w/the#UnitedStates” per
@thejointstaff’s Gen Milley
“But at the same time they do a lot of things in the #grayzone, malign operations…”
WW: Lol-wot. Blatant piracy is OK if it’s USA USA USA.
https://sputniknews.com/20211104/iran-releases-videos-of-irgc-close-encounter-with-us-destroyer-allegedly-trying-to-seize-oil-tanker-1090470148.html
On sputnik a video shows us that the speedboats of the Revolutionary Guards are protecting the tanker. The scenario seems to be the following.
– The felonious crew will deliver the tanker.
– A helicopter operation takes control of it.
– Iranian speedboats dissuade the US Navy from attempting to regain control of the ship.
At its exit, the Gulf of Oman is 325 km wide. This seems to be within range of Iranian anti-ship missiles. The US Navy blinked.
I would like this to be true as the US needs a smackdown but its more likely Iranian tall tales for their own people.
– The video evidence is quite clear and no other explanation for what is visually evident makes sense.
– The video evidence is strengthened by the official U.S response, which cannot make sense unless what the Iranians are saying is true.
– Further verification is easy: Identify the ship, captain and crew using public records, check against the ship Iran claims was hijacked en route to Venezuela and that should complete the picture.
The Americans are certainly lying.