Posted on 06/13/2019 11:31:41 AM PDT by Red Badger
U.S. Secretary of STate Mike Pompeo has blamed Iran for the "blatant assault" on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier on Thursday.
In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Pompeo said Iran is working to disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and are a deliberate part of a campaign to escalate tension.
His comments came shortly after a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News that it saw an unexploded mine attached to the hull of the Panama-listed, Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous ship, one of the two ships attacked. It is the same type of mine used to damage four oil tankers last month in the same area - an attack senior Pentagon officials blamed on Iran.
A spokesman for Taiwan's CPC Corp oil refiner, which chartered the other boat attacked on Thursday morning, the Front Altair, said it was "suspected of being hit by a torpedo", although his not been confirmed.
2 OIL TANKERS DAMAGED IN SUSPECTED ATTACK IN THE GULF OF OMAN, CREW EVACUATED
Whether it be a torpedo or mines, Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime security for BIMCO, told the Associated Press that the incident brings the region closer to an armed conflict.
“The shipping industry views this as an escalation of the situation, and we are just about as close to a conflict without there being an actual armed conflict, so the tensions are very high,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yes — ANY.
“Do you think the Navy Seals,”
Do you think they would?
> I doubt the Saudis could do it.
They pulled off 9/11, they can pull this off.
> Methods/Designs and components are traceable. Even the friggin solder is traceable. The composition of the explosive is traceable. Even the steel.
And the people who would be doing the tracing, on whose word we would have to rely in evaluating the situation, are...?
> One of their limpet mines didn’t explode and they are BUSTED. <
Here’s a possibility.
Let’s say country X wants the U.S. to attack Iran. Country X could get a hold of a limpet mine that could be traced back to Iran. Then attach it to a ship. But first fuss with it to make sure it “fails” to explode.
So who could country X be? Saudi Arabia and Israel come to mind. Country X could be some U.S. Deep State entity as well.
The immediately, and currently needed response is the quiet disappearance of one of those death traps known as an Iranian sub.
Maybe a few explosions at ammo depots.
See if Iran reacts.
If they do, it was them. If not, likely somebody else.
“This kind of deception does occur.”
There is no deception. Iran has been saying it would do this since last year.
Because no one here ever reads sources before spouting off...
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/127403/iran-threatens-shutter-straits-hormuz/
Yes. You might have more faith in government employees than I do. Do you think that you could find a Seal who would obey a false flag order, or be deceived into doing so, from Pentagon brass? I do. The world is a more complicated place than you might think.
“What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here?”
“I had to kill him, Mr Jake. He was a’sleeping witta my limpet.”
“So?”
“That’s a’mine.”
“OK.”
But this wasn’t in the Straits of Hormuz, so this isn’t an execution of those threats.
If Iran wants to close the straits, this isn’t how they are going to do it. They’re going to sink large ships in the straits themselves, which will block the passage of other ships.
And they sure aren’t going to do it by surprise against a Japanese ship with the Japanese PM in town.
This is an act of sabotage by some other party. Iran has no motive to do this, and several other parties do have motive to stage an attack and blame Iran for it.
If you deliberately provoke them, and they react, they’re guilty?
Time for you to fess up on your motive for really really wanting to go to war. Especially since your profile professes a liking for Pat Buchanan, whose ideology could not be more opposed to what you are engaged in right now.
“If you deliberately provoke them, and they react, they’re guilty?”
It has to be done quietly, without claim.
I don’t want war any more than the average ex-military. And I’m generally anti-war.
And I DO NOT trust US Government intel agencies, especially CIA.
But I DO confess to having a long standing animus toward the Iranian government.
We owe them so much pain.
They are directly responsible for the deaths of nearly 400 US Service members in Iraq, the Beirut Barracks bombing and so many others.
> They are directly responsible for the deaths of nearly 400 US Service members in Iraq, the Beirut Barracks bombing and so many others.
It’s time to let that rest. The price you appear to be willing to pay for revenge is far greater than 400 lives and most of those lives will be people who weren’t even born yet at the time.
While revenge may be in your personal interest, it’s against the national interest, and as a good American it’s time for you to set it aside and do what’s right for the country.
“The price you appear to be willing to pay for revenge is far greater than 400 lives and most of those lives will be people who weren’t even born yet at the time.”
How so?
I did not advocate an invasion of Iran, though it is appealing.
I do advocate for in-kind retaliation for the killing they have done to our men. And for retaliation in-kind if it’s found they are obstructing free shipping through the Gulf.
Hell, even Jimmy Carter was willing to go to war to keep the Gulf open.
And that’s where we run into the issue of not only do they have no motive to do this, they have strong motive not to do it, and particularly strong motive not to do it at that very moment due to Japanese PM Abe’s presence.
This was Hezbollah, the puppet.
Maybe a wildcat attack to provoke the real powers to go at it.
For some idiot reason it took shipping companies several years to put tac squads with rpg’s onto maritime shipping in high piracy areas. I don’t expect them to react any faster to the limpet mine threat. But for a small investment they could tow a sonar buoy and be alerted to anything man sized approaching. A smart insurance carrier would make that mandatory.
Mexico is to the Middle East hot spot what the “Palestinians” are to the Middle East hot spot: classic diversion of attention from the main problem.
It’s just bringing it closer. War hasn’t started yet.
A thousand?
“At the dawn of recorded history, the Middle East was at war.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.