Posted on 01/05/2021 4:20:24 AM PST by RomanSoldier19
South Korea is sending military forces to respond to the seizure of one of its tankers by Iran, an endeavor in which it is seeking to work with other nations operating in the region
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard announced Monday that its Zulfiqar fleet had seized a South Korean vessel operating in the Islamic Republic's First Naval District in the Persian Gulf "due to a series of violations of marine environmental laws" after it departed from Saudi Arabia's Al-Jubail port.
The ship, Hankuk Chemi, was said to be transporting up to 7,200 tons of oil-based chemicals, and carrying a crew of South Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Myanmar nationals. Both ship and crew are being held at Iran's Bandar Abbas port, where the Revolutionary Guard said "the issue is to be dealt with by the judicial officials."
In response to the incident, a South Korean Defense Ministry official told Newsweek the country, officially known as the Republic of Korea (ROK),had "sent anti-piracy troops near the Strait of Hormuz for the ROK oil tanker directly."
Asked if South Korea would seek support from the International Maritime Security Construct, a U.S.-led coalition of at least nine nations designed to prevent acts of sabotage and prevent Iran from seizing international ships after a restive 2019 near the Strait of Hormuz, the official said Seoul sought "close cooperation with regards to the ROK government's and multinational anti-piracy naval troops."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Iran will get their arses handed to them. Don’t mess with ROK troops.
How stupid is Iran? They get the President of their dreams and the staff around him that gave them a King’s Ransom, and they do THIS? Biden will be villified by the entire world if he is stupid enough to want to go back to that deal.
Byedone would probably coax the Norks into attacking the South. They’re his comrades.
Is it me, or is that ship listing about 10 degrees to starboard? So weird.
And the timing of this? If this isn’t misdirection, I don’t know what is.
I hope the SKs eviscerate the Iranians.
He’ll keep referring to them as “Iraq” and say we beat them in “like 6 wars already”
It’s starting to sound like there may not be much of a “death to America” Iran left for Obama/Biden/Kerry to surrender to.
“Iran will get their arses handed to them. Don’t mess with ROK troops.”
What we’re talking about is power projection. South Korea is focused, for the most part, on nearby targets. The idea of sending potentially thousands of troops, equipment and ships thousands of miles to free a tanker in the back yard of one of the larger militaries in a bad neighborhood was never part of their strategic thinking. Assuming by some miracle all the South Koreans shout, in farsi, “Hey! Squirrel!” and the entire Iranian military simultaneously looks away and the SK’s snatch back the tanker, what then? How will they protect next month’s tanker shipment? And, the one after that and the one after that?
The US has left the region for the most part. The US will no longer be playing the role of world policeman. That means Iran can start collecting “insurance” money for every ship from someone who can’t otherwise project power.
The Saudis have a huge stake in this, but I suspect they will do nothing to provoke Iran as Iran is spoiling for an excuse to reduce the Saudi’s oil facilities to rubble. Since Iran isn’t exporting oil they have little of consequence that the Saudis can strike back at.
Iran is the school bully picking on the tiny rich kid. The tiny rich kid will lose his lunch money every day. They will pay to protect their shipments as the British Empire payed the Barberi pirates to protect their shipments. While the US went over to Africa and won, they had to come up with a fleet capable of it first.
Now, the SK’s could get creative and, say, mine all the Iranian harbors so that nothing of consequence can move until the Iranians agree to let them alone. But the inclination of free nations is to appease because it’s profits that count and who knows what Iran might do in response.
I don’t see either Trump or Biden getting too involved. I do see that Saudi Arabia has to take action to switch their shipments to a safer venue. This is why there is a war in Syria. It was the Saudi’s attempt to gain access routes to pipe their products to the Mediterranean. Boy, did that backfire. There is a pipeline to the Red Sea, but the strait there could be closed with just one fishing smack dropping a couple of mines in the water.
If Iran gets away with this, then all the smaller nations in Asia are well and truly (past tense F-word.)
Dumb move on the part of Iran. Do you really think Congress will lift their ban on imports now?
It’s not just you. She’s listing.
The mullahs are counting their chickens.
We might be about to find out if either of them are any good. It’s kinda like the mountain terrain set-to with the Chinese and Indians. Mexican standoff is predicted from this keyboard anyway.
Ship is listing as if in a turn, what’s really going to have you scratching your heads is the ..left side of ship, white caps in a line.... Ships wake..out the right rear side not from the rear.... Magic ships are real it seems.
There’s is more photoshop in this than even the unicorns local 911 can backup.
Faked....the only thing missing is the crayon marks where the kids colored outside the lines.
The waves seem to be listing to starboard as well.
FYI, Nimitz, Just leaving the gulf region on its way home, has been ordered to STAY in the region...
Your premise that we won’t do anything about it is RINO speak. You don’t think we would be willing to “assist” South Korea? LOL
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.
