Posted on 06/13/2019 8:48:19 PM PDT by gandalftb
...twenty-one sailors from the M/T Kokuka Courageous who had abandoned their ship after discovering a probable unexploded limpet mine on their hull...
At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the M/T Kokuka Courageous (video attached).
The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests.
(Excerpt) Read more at navy.mil ...
Well “.mil” is the domain name suffix for US Military websites, so “navy.mil” can only be one thing...
Hmm, I thought we were supposed to wait for an anonymous poster on 8chan to tell us what to think.
/sarc
You are assuming I think the theater is to benefit Iran.
Time to ask the really big question:
CUI BONO?
Which countries are overwhelmingly dependent on high crude oil costs?
Russia, Venezuela, Our Dear Friends, the Saudis, and a bunch of Persian Gulf states.
If the Persian Gulf is shut down due to war, the biggest beneficiaries are Saudi and Russia. Venezuela is only a beneficiary on paper, The US is just about the only place that can refine their high sulfur oil, and we are now a net oil exporter and have little interest in buying oil, and the Venezuelan infrastructure has been so damaged by communist rule they couldn't send us much even if we wanted it.
The Persian Gulf states would pretty much be SOL. While they theoretically would benefit from high prices, there is no practical way to get their oil to market without free access through the Straight of Hormuz.
That leaves Our Dear Friends, The Saudis, and Russia as beneficiaries of a US-Iran war.
Smart money follows the money...
I hope we're smarter now.
Bot.
Trump lines up allies to isolate hostile nations. Iran's allies include Russia, who tend to get out of Dodge when the U.S. gets serious about blowing things up.
Every time someone predicts a short war, they are almost always wrong. I am not predicting a short war. Only that Iran has nearly insurmountable problems in fighting a long war.
Iran has every reason to not provoke a shootin' war at this point, and every reason to do all humanly possible to delay it until they have a credible nuclear threat.
Iran ain't the one that's behind this, people...
What evidence is that exactly...some grainy out of context video of a alleged Iranian patrol boat near one of the ships attacked?
How much sense does it make for the Iranians to launch an attack on commercial shipping while the Japanese Prime Minister is meeting in Tehran?
Reminds me of the time Syrian govt. forces launched a chemical weapons attack during a visit to Damascus by UN chemical weapons inspectors to certify Assad's compliance.
Makes about as much sense.
Comment by an old frogman: the ONLY people who are going to cruise up to an unexploded limpet mine and quickly remove it into a boat loaded with people, are the same people who know exactly what the mine is and how to safely disarm it. All limpet mines come with multiple “anti-removal” devices that will cause them to explode if you try to pry them off. Only Iranian EOD / Quds force frogmen would be able to do this, because they understand their own limpet mines inside and out.
Comment 2: The helo filming the events could be totally outside the visual and audio range of the Iranians, that is, they would not be aware they were being filmed.
“US says video shows Iran removing mine from stricken tanker”
https://www.apnews.com/6a48842e263541a5b3451f0d41dee01a
See above.
These tankers were not in port they were still at sea where the tide would not be a factor.
Maybe they are below the water line when full
My smart phone takes much sharper video than this so called "evidence".
I rememebr that girl in front of that comittee...
I remember thinking “what in the hell would soldiers do that for?”
Uh they were still full when they were attacked, they hadn't off loaded anything yet.
could just as easily be written:
Only Russian EOD / Spetznaz force frogmen would be able to do this, because they understand their own limpet mines inside and out.
or even
Only Saudi EOD frogmen would be able to do this, because they understand their own limpet mines inside and out.
or we could blame the Joooooooz.
In politics, it really doesn't matter who actually attached and removed the mines, but only who gets blamed...
Thank God you have no authority to act on behalf of America
Lawyerly cowardice will get us all killed
You sir are an American enemy.
“The Crusades” were a counterattack.
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.