Sound Of Rattling Weapons: Iran's Zarif Calls On UK To Immediately Release Captured Oil Tanker

[rainman + 263]

The capture of an Iranian oil tanker by Britain has set “a dangerous precedent and must end now”, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Monday. “Iran is neither a member of the EU nor subject to any European oil embargo. Last I checked, EU was against extraterritoriality. UK’s unlawful seizure of a tanker with Iranian oil on behalf of #B_Team is piracy, pure and simple. It sets a dangerous precedent and must end now,” Zarif tweeted. British Royal Marines impounded the tanker in Gibraltar on Thursday on suspicion it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. Iran denies the vessel was headed to Syria, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad is an ally of Tehran.

[Pavel + 384]

In my hood, this is how cheaters get beaten up!

[pinto + 293]

1 minute ago, Pavel said:

In my hood, this is how cheaters get beaten up!

Black market: fingers caught in the cookie jar....  

[ThunderBlade + 231]

Here we go: 

"British oil tanker seeks shelter over fears it could be seized by Iran"

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-08/british-oil-tanker-seeks-shelter-over-fears-it-could-be-seized-iran?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+(zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero)

[Pavel + 384]

1 minute ago, ThunderBlade said:

Here we go: 

"British oil tanker seeks shelter over fears it could be seized by Iran"

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-08/british-oil-tanker-seeks-shelter-over-fears-it-could-be-seized-iran?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+(zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero)

Insurance costs will probably skyrocket!!

[joze44 + 39]

10 minutes ago, ThunderBlade said:

 

"British oil tanker seeks shelter over fears it could be seized by Iran"

 

Let's look at this situation a bit wider. This might also mean that no British ship can enter or exit the Persian Gulf until this is resolved.  For any reason. Certain sections of those shipping lanes run ENTIRELY through Iranian waters.  All commercial traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf is at the pleasure of Iran. If this escalates, this is the beginning of shutting down the shipping lanes country by country.

[ThunderBlade + 231]

1 minute ago, joze44 said:

Let's look at this situation a bit wider. This might also mean that no British ship can enter or exit the Persian Gulf until this is resolved.  For any reason. Certain sections of those shipping lanes run ENTIRELY through Iranian waters.  All commercial traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf is at the pleasure of Iran. If this escalates, this is the beginning of shutting down the shipping lanes country by country.

But.. If Iran decides to shut down the straight, it'll give the west allies  a perfect excuse to intervene militarily... they'll say its to "protect free and open shipping lanes", or whatever the phrase is they use.

[James Regan + 1,776]

1 hour ago, joze44 said:

Let's look at this situation a bit wider. This might also mean that no British ship can enter or exit the Persian Gulf until this is resolved.  For any reason. Certain sections of those shipping lanes run ENTIRELY through Iranian waters.  All commercial traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf is at the pleasure of Iran. If this escalates, this is the beginning of shutting down the shipping lanes country by country.

That would certainly amount to Piracy 🏴‍☠️ no grey area there...

[James Regan + 1,776]

With the latest numbers showing signs of lower oil demand globally, if there was ever a time for the US to prop up it’s shale market by the usual geopolitical methods, now would be a good time.

Maybe Iran is all just a convenient coincidence?

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

4 hours ago, joze44 said:

Let's look at this situation a bit wider. This might also mean that no British ship can enter or exit the Persian Gulf until this is resolved.  For any reason. Certain sections of those shipping lanes run ENTIRELY through Iranian waters.  All commercial traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf is at the pleasure of Iran. If this escalates, this is the beginning of shutting down the shipping lanes country by country.

If I'm not mistaken, Britain has more than a few military ships available to it. Also if I'm not mistaken, Iran's navy is something of a joke, with their "ships" being primarily shore patrol class vessels. No blue water navy at all IIRC. This would be a fight they couldn't possibly win

[James Regan + 1,776]

Iran’s Navy as per Wiki??

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_ships_of_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran_Navy

and YouTube video with Groovy 70s music, drones, lots of moustaches

https://youtu.be/0ofmkikhAnA

Edited July 8, 2019 by James Regan

[James Regan + 1,776]

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by James Regan

[NickW + 2,714]

7 hours ago, joze44 said:

Let's look at this situation a bit wider. This might also mean that no British ship can enter or exit the Persian Gulf until this is resolved.  For any reason. Certain sections of those shipping lanes run ENTIRELY through Iranian waters.  All commercial traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf is at the pleasure of Iran. If this escalates, this is the beginning of shutting down the shipping lanes country by country.

According to Wiki the shipping lines in the actual straight run entirely through Omani waters. 

 

[James Regan + 1,776]

38 minutes ago, NickW said:

According to Wiki the shipping lines in the actual straight run entirely through Omani waters. 

 

@NickW By this your correct, the circle you see is around Abu Musa Island, in the 70s I was lucky enough to step on it while visiting the Mubarak Oil Field, that little Island with nothing on it has been a hot bed of dispute between the UAE and Iran for decades. It’s just a rock but now you can see construction and a couple of roads on it from Google Earth. Very strategic indeed...

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6553051914060304384

So that Iranian oil tanker that was seized by the UK, knew *exactly* what it was doing.  It added 10,000 miles to its trip, sailing entirely around Africa in order to attempt to evade confiscation.

Just remember that point when Iran and Western Mainstream Media splash headlines that Iran wants to seize a UK oil tanker in retaliation.

Oil tankers shipping oil to the UK are *not* hiding.  Bit of a difference there.

IRAN KNEW EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS DOING, sailing an additional 10,000 miles to try to evade seizure.

A seized Iranian tanker took a several-thousand-mile detour around Africa in a possible attempt to sneak a shipment of crude oil to Syria

 

[NickW + 2,714]

9 hours ago, James Regan said:

@NickW By this your correct, the circle you see is around Abu Musa Island, in the 70s I was lucky enough to step on it while visiting the Mubarak Oil Field, that little Island with nothing on it has been a hot bed of dispute between the UAE and Iran for decades. It’s just a rock but now you can see construction and a couple of roads on it from Google Earth. Very strategic indeed...

I assume oil tankers depending on draft could sail much closer in towards the UAE shore line - probably need a pilot and a nice slow approach but keeps the ships away from that demarcation line

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

16 hours ago, Ward Smith said:

If I'm not mistaken, Britain has more than a few military ships available to it. Also if I'm not mistaken, Iran's navy is something of a joke, with their "ships" being primarily shore patrol class vessels. No blue water navy at all IIRC. This would be a fight they couldn't possibly win

I would not be so sure about that.  The Iranians have thousands of those small fiberglas speedboats with rocket or missile launchers fitted.  You are sitting out there in your destroyer or armed littoral combat ship and you have 200 of those speedboats swarming at you, and they all launch simultaneously, your vaunted combat ship, battle-cruiser, whatever you have, is history. 

And that is not the worst part.  If your ships have to be close to Iranian land, they are vulnerable to Iranian land-based mobile missile launchers.  And the Iranians have built a huge fleet of these WIG machines, technically boats, but they can swarm you in three dimensions, as they have the ability to "hop up" to as much as 1,000 feet, then swoop back down on your ship.  Swarming is the classic Iranian attack scheme, where your defenses are overwhelmed with all these targets coming at you in three dimensions.  So you knock a few down; the sheer numbers will get to you and sink you.  Not a particularly welcome prospect.  I would stay clear of tangling with the Iranians, they are no push-overs.  They have been studying the US military for decades with a fierce determination.  

Yup, that is actually a boat, but it skims along over the sea in "ground effect," a form of air cushion.  And here you have one leaping up. It won't stay up there, as an airplane will, but it can climb, then dive down, so it fights in three dimensions.  Scary stuff.  And cheap to build.  Classic asymmetric warfare. Ouch.

[James Regan + 1,776]

1 hour ago, Jan van Eck said:

I would not be so sure about that.  The Iranians have thousands of those small fiberglas speedboats with rocket or missile launchers fitted.  You are sitting out there in your destroyer or armed littoral combat ship and you have 200 of those speedboats swarming at you, and they all launch simultaneously, your vaunted combat ship, battle-cruiser, whatever you have, is history. 

And that is not the worst part.  If your ships have to be close to Iranian land, they are vulnerable to Iranian land-based mobile missile launchers.  And the Iranians have built a huge fleet of these WIG machines, technically boats, but they can swarm you in three dimensions, as they have the ability to "hop up" to as much as 1,000 feet, then swoop back down on your ship.  Swarming is the classic Iranian attack scheme, where your defenses are overwhelmed with all these targets coming at you in three dimensions.  So you knock a few down; the sheer numbers will get to you and sink you.  Not a particularly welcome prospect.  I would stay clear of tangling with the Iranians, they are no push-overs.  They have been studying the US military for decades with a fierce determination.  

Yup, that is actually a boat, but it skims along over the sea in "ground effect," a form of air cushion.  And here you have one leaping up. It won't stay up there, as an airplane will, but it can climb, then dive down, so it fights in three dimensions.  Scary stuff.  And cheap to build.  Classic asymmetric warfare. Ouch.

Draught  is the big issue here, hence why so many speed boats the water is so shallow at much of the area.

Edited July 9, 2019 by James Regan

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

5 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

I would not be so sure about that.  The Iranians have thousands of those small fiberglas speedboats with rocket or missile launchers fitted.  You are sitting out there in your destroyer or armed littoral combat ship and you have 200 of those speedboats swarming at you, and they all launch simultaneously, your vaunted combat ship, battle-cruiser, whatever you have, is history. 

And that is not the worst part.  If your ships have to be close to Iranian land, they are vulnerable to Iranian land-based mobile missile launchers.  And the Iranians have built a huge fleet of these WIG machines, technically boats, but they can swarm you in three dimensions, as they have the ability to "hop up" to as much as 1,000 feet, then swoop back down on your ship.  Swarming is the classic Iranian attack scheme, where your defenses are overwhelmed with all these targets coming at you in three dimensions.  So you knock a few down; the sheer numbers will get to you and sink you.  Not a particularly welcome prospect.  I would stay clear of tangling with the Iranians, they are no push-overs.  They have been studying the US military for decades with a fierce determination.  

Yup, that is actually a boat, but it skims along over the sea in "ground effect," a form of air cushion.  And here you have one leaping up. It won't stay up there, as an airplane will, but it can climb, then dive down, so it fights in three dimensions.  Scary stuff.  And cheap to build.  Classic asymmetric warfare. Ouch.

Asymmetric warfare is another name for David vs Goliath. Naturally they believe God is on their side, but the vast majority of those boats will be manned by suicide crews. Those swarms of fiberglass boats will be so much floating rubbish once the MK-38 lights them up

The YouTube video out there makes people think they aren't accurate, but they were busy firing warning shots. The Somalis were hopped up on khat and thought they were getting away with something. They weren't. 

[SERWIN + 749]

5 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

I would not be so sure about that.  The Iranians have thousands of those small fiberglas speedboats with rocket or missile launchers fitted.  You are sitting out there in your destroyer or armed littoral combat ship and you have 200 of those speedboats swarming at you, and they all launch simultaneously, your vaunted combat ship, battle-cruiser, whatever you have, is history. 

And that is not the worst part.  If your ships have to be close to Iranian land, they are vulnerable to Iranian land-based mobile missile launchers.  And the Iranians have built a huge fleet of these WIG machines, technically boats, but they can swarm you in three dimensions, as they have the ability to "hop up" to as much as 1,000 feet, then swoop back down on your ship.  Swarming is the classic Iranian attack scheme, where your defenses are overwhelmed with all these targets coming at you in three dimensions.  So you knock a few down; the sheer numbers will get to you and sink you.  Not a particularly welcome prospect.  I would stay clear of tangling with the Iranians, they are no push-overs.  They have been studying the US military for decades with a fierce determination.  

Yup, that is actually a boat, but it skims along over the sea in "ground effect," a form of air cushion.  And here you have one leaping up. It won't stay up there, as an airplane will, but it can climb, then dive down, so it fights in three dimensions.  Scary stuff.  And cheap to build.  Classic asymmetric warfare. Ouch.

Ever heard of the MK15 Phalanx? Or the SeaRAM? The Royal navy likes the GOALKEEPER system. Those tiny unarmored(essentially) planes would fall like raindrops against any one of those systems, and the small surface boats would be littering the sea bottom in minutes against such an adversary.... A small battle group with some of those systems would be disastrous for the Iranian navy....LMOA that would be a show though.

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

This didn't take long