Middle East on brink: Oil tankers attacked off Oman

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Danika....I never posted that! Wonder how the comment was attributed to me? Just curious...

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

30 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Danika....I never posted that! Wonder how the comment was attributed to me? Just curious...

Douglas, you were quoting Wastral, and somehow Wastral's quote was attributed to you when Danilka quoted Wastral's comment which you quoted.

https://community.oilprice.com/topic/6433-middle-east-on-brink-oil-tankers-attacked-off-oman/?page=2#comment-55699

 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

Thanks Tom! That explains it.

[DanilKa + 443]

6 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Danika....I never posted that! Wonder how the comment was attributed to me? Just curious...

Pardon the unintentional misquote  

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

No worries Danika, just thought it was a bit odd.

[James Regan + 1,776]

10% premium to be added to all oil shipments passing through the Straights, surely we will see this in the market, as the market has been acting I’m not sure if it will raise or lower the market price. 

Logically thinking you would expect it to raise the oil price, but perhaps “they” ( those folks no one knows but always refer to) will buy it from those other folks.

[Arjun + 39]

On 6/13/2019 at 3:42 PM, Douglas Buckland said:

Are you insinuating that tankers are being 'false flag' targeted to get the price of oil up? A bit of a stretch don't you think? Do you have any supporting evidence?

Where there any dancing men on nearby ships? 

[DanilKa + 443]

Was Limpet mine or torpedo charged with depleted Iranium?  

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

50 minutes ago, DanilKa said:

Was Limpet mine or torpedo charged with depleted Iranium?  

^ Pun of the day award

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

7 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

^ Pun of the day award

More like infectious Piss-Iranium

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

9 hours ago, Arjun said:

Where there any dancing men on nearby ships? 

They were dancing and drinking bottles of spiked doogh!!!!

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Tanker operator Heidmar cautious on new Middle East contracts amid tensions

Tanker pool operator Heidmar is exercising extreme caution towards any new shipping contracts in the Middle East in the backdrop of last week's attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman, the company said in an emailed statement late Monday.

The company, which manages a global trading fleet of VLCCs, Suezmax tankers and Aframax or LR2 tankers, said it was focused on the safety of its seafarers in the Middle East.

This note of caution comes amid growing tensions in the Middle East that have prompted several shipowners to hold back on vessel charters to the region.

"Until such time as geopolitical tensions recede, Heidmar will exercise extreme caution when considering new contracts in the region and the company will consider all possible measures to ensure the safety of its partner's vessels," a company spokesman said.

"The company is consulting with regional security experts to ensure the safety of all crew, vessels and cargo. We continue to review every cargo on a case-by-case basis with the safety of life and the protection of the vessels a priority," he added.

Earlier Tuesday, media outlets reported that the US would send 1,000 more troops to the region in response to the alleged hostile behavior by Iran, which the US blames for the recent tanker attacks.

Shipbrokers said the market is focused on the impact on freight rates, with insurance premiums being reassessed. Immediately after the tanker attacks earlier this month, chartering activity fell sharply as owners were undecided on whether to accept Middle East bookings.

Owners and charterers have briefly halted activity as they look to assess the risk of events, as well as the gyration of oil prices due to the attacks, ship brokerage Charles R. Weber said in its report for the week-ended June 14. Risk in the area is certain to increase, but the effect on rates is yet to be determined, the brokerage added.

It said the Persian Gulf Suezmax market was the big question mark going forward as the recent attacks had pushed the Persian Gulf-West rates up 20 points since the incident, and rates had been stable until then.

"As one of our brokers has so eloquently put it, if in doubt, do nothing," Gibson Shipbrokers said in its weekly report.

"A strategy which it seems likely will be commonplace amongst the shipping community over the coming days. Nonetheless, the latest events without doubt do affect us all," it added.

Another shipbroker, Affinity Tankers, wrote that while VLCC and Suezmax rates had gone up after the incident, clean product tanker rates had dropped. "So it's all clear as mud."

"Last week's events have forced us to say something about Iran," Abudi Zein, CEO of shipping data provider ClipperData, said at an industry event in Singapore on Tuesday. "The risks of miscalculation are very high, and the reason we think that is, is because the two sides (US and Iran) don't know one another very well," he said.

At the moment, the next step is expected to be the US to send more troops to the Middle East, and that again increases the risk that somebody is going to miscalculate, Zein added.

[MaxNix + 12]

Related topic - someone is stirring things up in Iraq, according to Jerusalem Post:

 

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Who-is-targeting-US-forces-and-foreign-oil-companies-in-Iraq-593013

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Why oil vessels are attacked in the Gulf?

 

The attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, which connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, a critical choke-point in one the world’s busiest shipping routes, has raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The crisis has also pushed up global oil prices as well as the cost of shipping insurance. Within hours of Thursday’s attack on the vessels, one is Japanese-owned and the other Norwegian, the U.S. has blamed Iran for the incident. The U.S. Central Command, which is based in the Gulf, has also released a video footage that the U.S. claimed showed men on an Iranian boat removing a mine from one of the tankers.

This was the second time in two months oil tankers have come under attack in the region. On May 12, four vessels, owned by Saudi Arabia and Norway, were targeted off the UAE coast, just outside the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. had blamed Iran for that attack as well. Tehran has denied any role in the incidents. Whoever is responsible for these attacks, they are actually weaponising the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, both vital spots on the Gulf-Arabian Sea trade route.

Why Strait of Hormuz is important?
The Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf) lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Besides Iran and Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq also share the Gulf coastline. As all these countries are energy-rich, the Gulf naturally emerged as a major trade route through which most of the oil exported from these countries flow out. Strait of Hormuz is a choke-point between the Gulf and the open ocean. With Iran on its northern coast and the UAE and an Omanian enclave on the south, the Strait, at its narrowest point, has a width of 34 km. The Strait opens to the Gulf of Oman which is connected to the Arabian Sea. A third of crude oil exports transported via ships pass through the Strait, which makes it the world’s most important oil artery.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a record 18.5 million barrels a day of oil passed through the Strait in 2016, a 9% jump on flows in the previous year. Besides oil, nearly all the exported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, the world’s second largest LNG exporter, pass through the Strait of Hormuz. If the Strait is closed or if the flow of oil and gas is disrupted, it would have serious impact on global energy stability and thereby on world economy. Last time when there was a tanker war in the Gulf, it lasted for years and caused a major rise in prices and drop in commercial shipping.

The last Tanker War
In the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq were locked in a protracted conflict, both sides targeted each other’s energy vessels in the Gulf and on the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq started the Tanker War by targeting ships carrying Iranian fuel in 1981. Three years later, Iran started attacking vessels carrying Iraqi fuel turning the Gulf waters into a war zone. While Iraq largely attacked ships using missile-armed jet aircraft, the Iranians developed multiple ways to target tankers. They used speedboats, sea mines; anti-ship cruise missiles and traditional naval gunfire, among others. According to a report by the U.S. Naval Institute, in total, 340 ships were attacked and more than 30 million tonnes of shipping damaged in the Gulf between 1981 and 1987. It also caused over 400 seaman deaths. The conflict gradually subsided after the U.S. naval intervention in 1987, but only after Iran developed and demonstrated capability to attack any vessel that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Among the ships severely damaged was the USS Samuel B. Roberts of the U.S. Navy, which was hit by an Iranian mine in 1988.

What’s next?
With ships again coming under attack in the Gulf region, memories of the Tanker War are being revived. If Iran is actually behind the recent attacks, it may be playing a risky game, demonstrating what it can do in the Gulf in the event of a war. If Iran is not behind the attacks, some other powers are using the Gulf trade lanes to stoke further tensions. Either way, the weaponisation of the Strait of Hormuz is a dangerous game. In the 1980s, the tanker war was largely a war of economic attrition. Also, the conflict was between Iran and Iraq, two relatively similar powers. This time, there are other risks. Given the existing tensions, more attacks on shipping vessels could trigger an all-out war, besides the economic costs of such attacks. Second, this time, conflict is between the U.S. and Iran. The scope of a direct war will be much bigger than what it was in the 1980s.
 

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Risks rise in key oil chokepoint Strait of Hormuz

 

An alleged attack Thursday on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz may increase levels of risk in the Middle East’s key crude supply and shipping artery.

The Front Altair and the Kokuka Courageous were carrying cargoes including naphtha when the incident occurred. Television footage later showed one of the tankers engulfed in flames.
The incident follows last month’s attack on four tankers near the bunkering port of Fujairah on May 12.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran Thursday for the attack on the two tankers, as well as attacks a month earlier on pipelines in Saudi Arabia and on ships in nearby waters off Fujairah. Pompeo said the US would raise the attack to the United Nations’ Security Council.

“The details remain unclear at the time of writing, but the attacks fit Iran’s recent pattern of reacting to tightening US sanctions,” said Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser with S&P Global Platts Analytics.

“A direct US/Iran conflict (or shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz) both remain long shots, due to Iran’s fear of US military action and the US administration’s clear aversion to foreign entanglements. But the risk of miscalculation in the Middle East is clearly rising, which will increase the demand for inventory as oil balances tighten in 2H19,” he added.

TRADE FLOWS
**The 21-mile wide Strait of Hormuz is the key maritime transit route for Persian Gulf oil exporters.

**The EIA estimates 18.5 million b/d of all seaborne oil exports passed through the strait in 2016, mainly to customers in Asia. Japan, China, India and South Korea are the biggest buyers of the heavier sourer — or high sulfur — crudes that Middle East producers tend to supply.

**Iran has issued threats to close the strait in recent months, prompting the US to deploy warships and military aircraft.

**Only Iran and Saudi Arabia have alternative access routes to maritime shipping lanes. Saudi also has access to the Red Sea via the Yanbu Port. Saudi’s King Fahd crude export terminal has a loading capacity of 6.6 million b/d.

**Saudi Arabia operates the Petroline (East-West Pipeline) which has a capacity of 4.8 million b/d, a throughput of 1.9 million b/d and an unused capacity of 2.9 million b/d, according to the EIA. This services Yanbu Port. The UAE operates the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, which has a capacity of 1.5 million b/d, a throughput of 0.5 million b/d and an unused capacity of 1 million b/d, the EIA notes.

**The strait is crucial for LNG shipments from Qatar.

**Qatar exported about 6.6 million mt in April, equivalent to about 23.5% of global LNG supply, according to Platts Analytics.

**Qatar supplied some 2.8 million mt to Europe, representing about 40% of its total exports, while the bulk of the remaining 3.8 million mt was exported to Asia.

**Current LNG demand is subdued on limited demand from Europe and Asia for power generation and restocking, following a mild winter which has left healthy storage inventories.

PRICES
**Brent crude futures climbed almost 4% immediately after the attacks on Thursday. ICE Brent eventually settled $1.34 higher at $61.31/b.

**The LNG market was not affected by the incident on Thursday. The Platts JKM was assessed at $4.412/MMBtu at the Thursday close in Singapore, down $0.002/MMBtu from Wednesday’s close in London. LNG ships were going through the maritime transit route as usual on Thursday, according to Platts trade flow software cFlow.

**Ship owners are watching the situation closely, but none have reported any changes in daily operations or freight rates yet.

INFRASTRUCTURE
**The Front Altair was scheduled to carry a naphtha cargo from the Persian Gulf to Japan, shipping sources said. Taiwan’s CPC Corporation said the 75,000 mt naphtha feedstock cargo was loaded at the UAE’s Ruwais port on June 11 and that the company bought it from state-run ADNOC. The cargo was on a CFR basis, according to CPC. ADNOC couldn’t be reached for immediate comment.

**BSM Ship Management said the Kokuka Courageous was carrying methanol and had been damaged in the incident, 70 nautical miles from Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman and about 14 nautical miles from the coast of Iran but was not in the danger of sinking.

**Due to the Fujairah attacks in May and the latest attacks Thursday, the Norwegian Maritime Authority has urged Norwegian ships to exercise extreme caution in the region.

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Tanker earnings jump after attacks

 

Ocean shipping has a unique appeal to a certain breed of risk-reward investor for two primary reasons. First, global shipping rates are completely unregulated. There’s no one with the authority to declare that a rate is too high or too low. The market decides.

Second, rates can gyrate wildly due to global events that are largely unpredictable. A ship owner can wake up one morning and suddenly find himself well on his way to being either rich or broke, through no fault of his own.

World events are now coming to the fore in ocean shipping. The crude oil tanker market has become heavily contingent on the outcome of geopolitical tensions between Iran and the U.S., while the container market will go one way or the other based upon the outcome of trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Geopolitical risks support tanker rates

As predicted, the tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman on June 13 had an immediate and highly positive effect on rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs). These tankers each carry two million barrels of crude and they are the vessels of choice for Middle East exports.

Clarksons Platou Securities reported that VLCC rates, as of June 18, averaged $22,100 per day, up 63 percent week-on-week, while third quarter VLCC rates in the forward freight agreement (FFA) market were $25,000 per day.

Deutsche Bank shipping analyst Amit Mehrotra noted that “charterers need to pay a premium to bring vessels into the Arabian Gulf.” VLCC spot rates jumped 100 percent in the Middle East region and 26 percent overall last week, said Mehrotra.

According to Randy Giveans, shipping analyst at Jefferies, “Owners will start demanding some form of hazard pay when operating near the Strait of Hormuz, and VLCC FFAs jumped on fears that vessel supply in the region will tighten, as several operators temporarily halt Middle East Gulf operations.”

Ben Nolan, the shipping analyst at Stifel, pointed out how rising dangers in Middle East waters could slow down tanker operations. The more inefficient operations become, the more that capacity is effectively reduced, a tailwind for rates.

Nolan cited the possibility that “there would need to be increased international protection for ships transiting the region, with some possibility of escorted convoys. This could slow the tanker logistics for loading and unloading.

“We expect at most it would add an additional one to two days in transit time, similar to convoys around the Horn of Africa to avoid pirates,” said Nolan. He estimated that this would equate to a 2-3 percent increase in transit time.

Taking into account the portion of the fleet that does not trade in the Middle East, he said it could equate to a 1 percent decrease in the effective capacity of the world’s VLCC fleet – a plus for rates, albeit a small one.

Public companies with spot VLCC exposure: Euronav (NYSE: EURN), DHT (NYSE: DHT), Frontline (NYSE: FRO), International Seaways (NYSE: INSW)

LPG rates continue their ascent

In the global transportation sector for liquified petroleum gas (LPG), the long-haul routes to Asia are dominated by 84,000-cubic meter very large gas carriers (VLGCs).

As of June 18, Clarksons Platou Securities estimated that VLGCs were averaging $64,100 per day, up 21 percent week-on-week.

“VLGC rates continued the march higher, breaking $60,000 per day, a new cycle high,” said Noah Parquette, shipping analyst at J.P. Morgan. “Momentum seems strong,” he asserted, noting that the “east/west arb” is supporting shipments out of the U.S. Gulf to China. In other words, Asian pricing for propane exceeds U.S. pricing to a degree that provides traders profits even after paying for transport.

“In the LPG market, earnings ended [last week] at over $60,000 per day on the Baltic-quoted Middle East Gulf-Japan route,” said Clarksons Platou Securities analyst Frode Mørkedal.

“From the U.S., the situation is much of the same and fixing windows are being pushed further in advance, now looking for vessels for end-July,” Mørkedal said, referring to the extended time in advance vessels must be chartered for future voyages, a market dynamic that results from demand exceeding vessel supply.

Speaking at the Marine Money conference in New York on June 17, J. Mintzmyer, lead researcher of Value Investor’s Edge, commented, “In the broader [investment] market, shipping is always looked at as a monolith, but it’s important to differentiate between the sectors. Right now, if you look at the headlines, you see ‘Shipping is down.’ But what about LPG? VLGC rates are now at five-year highs.”

Shipping stocks are notoriously averse to responding to rate moves by the listed companies’ fleets, but VLGC rates are now so high that Wall Street investors are beginning to take notice. “The share price of Dorian [NYSE: LPG] is finally starting to respond,” said Mintzmyer.

Public companies with spot VLGC exposure: Dorian LPG (NYSE: LPG), BW Gas (Oslo: GAS)

Containers hang in the balance

Container shipping rates remained steady over the past week, as trade tensions between the U.S. and China continued to cast a long shadow. U.S. tariffs on an additional $300 billion in imports from China are being actively considered, and are increasingly seen as likely.

Over 600 companies, including Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT), sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump last week. “We remain concerned about the escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs. An escalating trade war is not in the country’s best interest, and both sides will lose,” warned the letter’s signees. Hearings on the next wave of tariffs are being held in Washington, D.C. this week.

Data tracking shipping rates for containers originating in China does not yet show any evidence of a surge in U.S. cargo demand as importers move to beat the tariffs.

Since May 1, the Freightos Baltic Daily Index (Global) is basically flat, down 2 percent. It fell in late May but rebounded to early May levels in early June, and has remained steady at that higher level throughout this month.

The two largest individual trade lanes show differing patterns during this period. The index tracking container rates between China and North Europe (FBXD.CNER) was up slightly in May, and has been flat to slightly lower in June, and is down 2 percent since May 1.

In contrast, the index tracking rates between China and the U.S. West Coast (FBXD.CNAW) fell sharply in late May and rebounded in June, and has remained flat throughout this month, but it is still down 9 percent from May 1.

In essence, the weakness of the trans-Pacific route pulled down the global average in the second half of last month and improved rates on the trans-Pacific brought the global average back up this month, while the Asia-Europe route has continued to outperform the trans-Pacific in terms of rate trends.

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Asian shipowners maintain heightened security levels on Middle East transits

in International Shipping News 19/06/2019

 

Asian tanker and LNG shipping companies remain cautious on Middle East transits after last week’s tanker attacks, and have stepped up safety measures including tighter security of seaborne vessels and full-speed navigation in the Gulf of Oman, the companies said Monday.

Last week’s attacks on one oil product and one chemical tanker had resulted in several owners of clean and dirty vessels holding back spot charters for Middle Eastern cargoes on Friday, which triggered war risk premiums for vessels willing to undertake the voyage, and pushed up freight rates for immediate fixtures.
“Tanker owners and charterers alike are observing the situation before they commit to more cargoes and ships in the region,” tankers analyst Erik Broekhuizen of shipping brokerage Poten & Partners said in a report.

“The longer-term implications for the tanker market are dependent on what happens next,” Broekhuizen said, adding that geopolitical tensions have already risen to a very high level and further attacks or proven involvement of state actors could result in a significant escalation of the conflict.

Broekhuizen drew parallels with the Iran-Iraq tanker war of the 1980s, and said the key difference is that in the 1980s the main destination for Middle East oil was the US and Europe, but now more than 80% of exports from the Persian Gulf are headed for Asia, in particular China. Asian shipowners said they were watching the situation closely.

Japan’s NYK Group, one of the world’s largest shipowners, said its president Tadaaki Naito had opened its crisis-management center on June 13 and it was collecting as much information as possible.

NYK Group has no plans to suspend calling at Middle Eastern ports and none of the group’s vessels were damaged, a company spokesman said, adding that it was unable to disclose the positions of its vessels or detail its security measures.

“Vessel navigation (both ways) continues with more vigilance than usual, including full-speed navigation in the area of concern,” the spokesman said. NYK controlled 833 ships, of which 355 were fully or partly owned and 478 were chartered, according to its 2019 factbook. Out of this 63 were tankers and 70 were LNG carriers.

Singapore-based BW Group, one of the largest LNG fleet owners, also said it had stepped up security levels.

“We are following the events in the Strait of Hormuz with concern and have asked all of our vessels to proceed with additional vigilance following all the appropriate security protocols in place,” a company spokeswoman said.

“We wait to see any official statements in relation to the cause of the explosions which took place,” she added.

LNG IMPORTERS ON WATCH
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical chokepoint for LNG transits, especially since the world’s largest LNG exporter Qatar ships its cargoes to Asia through the region.

“If the strait were to be blocked, then Qatari cargoes will be affected. But if it is just a few vessels being targeted, the impact is minimal,” an executive with Japanese utility Kansai Electric said. He said the latest attacks may prevent oil and gas prices from falling by putting a floor on the market amid the uncertainty.

The S&P Global Platts JKM for July cargoes was assessed at $4.4/MMBtu last Friday on steady pricing indications, and Asia Pacific shipping day rates were at $48,000/day.

An executive with Tohoku Electric said that the Japanese utility had run several simulations, including future procurement timings and vessel routes.

“However, since LNG vessels haven’t been affected thus far, there is no additional buying from us or other utilities as far as I know,” the person said.

“I haven’t heard of any impact so far. There might be some buyers on the move after the attack,” a Tokyo Gas executive said.

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

On 6/13/2019 at 11:09 AM, ceo_energemsier said:

No one wants to start a war against Iran, the economical sanctions have brought Iran down to their knees financially. They are carrying out a proxy war, with lots of room for deniability. These are not "false flag" conspiracy theories and attacks.

These are small reminders every now and then from Iran and their proxy actors of how things could get bad. Wait and find out what the insurance companies find out, just like they did in the May attacks.

 

Reading this forum I'm sure some do.  "The US owns the world" seems like a common ideology. 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

I would like to recommend a few recent postings at "The Corbett Report".

 

VIDEO with transcript/sources  (10 minutes) "4 Times the US Threatened to Stage an Attack and Blame it on Iran"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhqLaYBtvXA&feature=youtu.be

 

On Sunday, June 23, James Corbett came out with this article:  The Truth About Iran's Nuclear Program  https://steemit.com/iran/@corbettreport/the-truth-about-iran-s-nuclear-program

In the article, and also on another Corbett Report video feature, he cites an OilPrice.com article by Yossef Bodansky entitled Declassified: The Sino-Russian Masterplan To End U.S. Dominance In Middle East https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Declassified-The-Sino-Russian-Masterplan-To-End-US-Dominance-In-The-Middle-Ea.html

 

For those who are interested, two other recent Corbett Report articles which primarily deal with China and the U.S. during this new Cold War, are Part 1 The Truth About Tiananmen and Part 2 Clash of Civilizations 2.0 .

https://steemit.com/news/@corbettreport/the-truth-about-tiananmen

https://steemit.com/china/@corbettreport/clash-of-civilizations-2-0

 

If you have never seen James Corbett’s famous documentary “How Big Oil Conquered The World”, I suggest you take a look.  Profound.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySnk-f2ThpE

 

 

 

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

1. Huffington Post via Yahoo – June 14 or 15, 2019
   Oil Tanker Owner Contradicts Trump Administration On Explosive In Mideast Ship Attack
   https://www.yahoo.com/news/oil-tanker-gulf-of-oman-iran-explosion-trump-administration-002916925.html

   EXCERPTS
   The company that owns one of the two oil tankers attacked Thursday near the Strait of Hormuz contradicted Trump administration and U.S. military reports linking the incident to an Iranian sea mine.

   U.S. Central Command said that the Norwegian-owned MT Front Altair and the Japanese Kokula Courageous were attacked Thursday by a limpet mine, which is attached to ships below the water line. The military released a video that officials claimed showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from the 560-foot Courageous.

   But an official of the company that owns the Courageous said Friday that the vessel appeared to be struck in the Gulf of Oman by something that “flew towards the ship,” NBC reported.

   “We received reports that something flew towards the ship,” Yutaka Katada, president of Kokaku Sangyo Co., said at a press conference, according to NBC. “The place where the projectile landed was significantly higher than the water level, so we are absolutely sure that this wasn’t a torpedo. I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship.”…

   …Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had traveled Wednesday to Iran in a bid to improve deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran. He left Thursday as the oil tankers burned.

   Russian President Vladimir Putin met Friday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan and praised the relationship between the two nations….

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

19 hours ago, Enthalpic said:

Reading this forum I'm sure some do.  "The US owns the world" seems like a common ideology. 

be fair, now. The world doesn't appreciate all the the US does is more like it.