Posted on 12/28/2011 8:16:18 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Iranian naval chief Habibollah Sayyari said Wednesday that "Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say it will be easier than drinking a glass of water."
Parisa Hafezi of Reuters reports Sayyari then topped this off by saying that while his forces could do this at any time, there was currently no need, as they control the Sea of Oman and therefore all shipping through the strait.
Iran's threats Tuesday to close the strait sent oil prices up close to 2%, but it won't last.
Oil analyst Thorbjoern bak Jensen, with Global Risk Management told Reuters, "The threat by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz supported the oil market yesterday, but the effect is fading today as it will probably be empty threats as they cannot stop the flow for a longer period due to the amount of U.S. hardware in the area."
It's unclear what Sayyari meant by controlling the Sea of Oman, but for its part the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet announced today that "Any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz will not be tolerated."
Based in Bahrain the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet fleet consists of an Aircraft Carrier Battle Group, an Amphibious Ready Group, surface combatants, submarines, maritime patrol and surveillance planes, and logistics ships.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Like to hear that said from the top but not holding my breath.
Narrow shallow water
They have thousands of anti-ship missiles spread over thousands of square miles, hidden in caves. We need to destroy every one of them to open the straits. Without “boots on the ground” covering all of the launch territory, this won't be easy.
As a comparison, to show the difficulty of destroying all of the mobile missiles, the Iraqis were launching SCUDs up until the very end of Desert Storm. And SCUDs are enormous rockets that must be erected to vertical, and filled with liquid fuel from tanker trucks before they can be fired. And with all of our assets, we were not able to prevent them from launching.
OTOH, the anti-ship missiles are smaller, solid fuel rockets, launched from near-horizontal from trucks. IOW, they take just a fraction of the time to pull out of a hidden cave and launch.
Anybody who thumps his chest and says, “The US Navy can keep the straits open, easy,” is a fool in my estimation. Not unless they have figured out a way to find and destroy thousands of mobile missile launchers spread over thousands of square miles of craggy cliffs and ravines surrounding the straits.
Especially considering who we have for a CiC.
Until the muslim in chief says otherwise.
All that is needed is for a President with credibility (which means it won’t happen for a while) to state clearly and without any equivocation, “the day that Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz will be the day I authorize the cities of Tehran, Tabriz and Qom to join Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the history books. Don’t say you weren’t warned, you little Persian pricks.”
Anyone who thinks the USA under any kind of rational leadership will simply allow Iran to close the Persian Gulf to tanker traffic by letting them launch a few missles every few days is a fool, in my opinion.
Hunting for Silkworm missiles one by one is not the only option available to bring pressure to bear on Iran.
The traitor in chief will find some way to hamstring the Navy, de-funding is top of the list.
Obama wants an oil starved America, his “green” commie friends are terribly anxious to get their grants.
You put your finger on the issue, of course. It isn’t that our military (and the military forces of other countries) could not exert enough force in the right places to keep the straits open, it is whether that is what our leadership wishes to do.
And that is not only NOT an open question, we already know what THEY want.
“Anyone who thinks the USA under any kind of rational leadership will simply allow Iran to close the Persian Gulf to tanker traffic by letting them launch a few missles every few days is a fool, in my opinion.”
What does “letting them” have to do with reality? The reality is they have thousands of truck mobile anti-ship missiles waiting in caves.
Do you have a magic plan for destroying them so they can’t be launched? Please let us know how that works.
Yeah, there are stern letters, then special font effects like bolding, capitalization, and large type to show how really angry we are. The Fifth Fleet steaming in a really intense and furious manner will surely bring them into line. Anything else would be unexpected from the current regime.
Keeping the straits open could be done, by a President who really wanted to.
The first molestation of a ship in the straits would be answered by leveling the personal residences of Imadinnerjacket and each mullah in the ruling council. A statement would be made that any missile launched from Iranian territory would be answered by destroying something that the rulers would be upset to see destroyed. We would focus on the homes of the Basij, next.
When Zer0 gets back from vacation the ‘not tolerated’ remark will be revised into ‘we’ll discuss it’.
Agreed. Almost all of the discussion seems pointed at how well the USN can defend against anti-shipping missiles and attacks from Iran on the USN.
The problem is that all the Iranians have to do is threaten the slow-moving unarmed tankers. Mine a few, sink or disable a few. Insurance is yanked, oil companies cease ops. If on ship is hit, companies will either be able to keep going at 100% or suspend ops for EVERYTHING.
The USN can only escort some % of shipping, and/or retaliate in escalation, something we are politically unprepared for.
Cutting the flow even a little will turn catastrophic for the West, they don't actually have to close it down.
Zer0 likes to use WingDing when he's upset. :^)
Fix is in deep! War with Iran in 2012, Americans expected to be “united” behind the Pres__ent, and the Republican nominee will tone down his politics.
Result? Four more years, if we can survive that long.
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