Posted on 07/10/2019 5:23:52 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici
Five boats thought to be Iranian tried to stop a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials.
The boats withdrew after a warning from a British warship operating in the area.
The incident comes as a Royal Navy warship was said to be offering extra protection to a second tanker in the Gulf following a threat from Iran to seize a British vessel.
Sky News understands HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, has been travelling with a tanker, British Heritage, according to a ship tracking website and a defence source.
Tensions have been rising since Royal Marines helped seize an Iranian-flagged tanker in Gibraltar which was allegedly carrying oil to Syria, in breach of European Union sanctions.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
So far - they can.
HMS Montrose had 30mm deck guns ready;
contact by radio.
Before they die from strangulation of funds they will start a war..
IRAN: what? Who? Us? Never happened! We don’t even know those guys!
The Iranian Coast should be a Boat Free Zone, just like it should be on the Somalian coast.
HMS Montrose-named after Ronnie?
I wouldn’t trust any of the @ssholes running that country.
Right you are.
They’re on their own if they do anything stupid.
I’m reading Pat Buchanan’s “The Unnecessary War” He apparently doesn’t like the Brits or Churchill for that matter. They needed the US to get involved in their wars twice. Deep staters won out.
I just looked it up and that ship’s armament is two 30mm and one 4.5 inch guns. I am not really knowledgeable on modern armaments but that seems awfully light.
I recall WWII era Destroyer Escorts had two 5 inch guns and a whole bunch of Bofors and .50 cal guns.
It’s an Act of War.
I think against what the Iranians have there that's probably sufficient.
As far as why we are there: I can't remember the last time ANYONE other than the US engaged the Iranians in the Straits of Hormuz. I think Trump's strategy is working.
Sounds like it was just a show- but still serious trouble. Protecting their tankers from every nut Iran controls will be expensive.
Always appreciate British Navy actions though.
They mostly invented the sailed navy.
“I am the monarch of the sea,
The ruler of the Queen’s Navee,”
“Royal Marines helped seize an Iranian-flagged tanker in Gibraltar which was allegedly carrying oil to Syria”
That can’t be right. Can it? Geography seems to be against it, as Suez Canal is available, so no need to sail all the way around Africa to get to Syria.
It is an Act of War.
Rule, Britannia!, Britannia rule the waves.
In all fairness, the British snatched an Iranian oil tanker. So the Iranians want to snatch one of theirs.
And in further fairness, the Iranians have been at war with us, and Britain and other allies, by actively targeting our troops in Iraq. Iraq is not their war, not their country - yet they have been killing and maiming our troops through the arming and training of insurgent groups. And they paid no price - in fact they were rewarded when Obama and the EU lifted sanctions.
So, yeah in a way they probably do think they can operate (nearly) unfettered. They are probably correct to calculate that Americans have no appetite for another war. They have got away with a lot already.
I don’t know the details but I would guess that they wouldn’t want to sail through the Red Sea and the Suez canal because it would be obvious they were trying to evade sanctions. And, possibly, they tried an even more circuitous route.
But Iran and Syria share a border. Why sail at all? Perhaps also that much oil moving at once would be too obvious a target for all the military activity in Syria to strike.
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