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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - (AP) -- Mysterious attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz this week show how one of the world's crucial chokepoints for global energy supplies can be easily targeted, 30 years after the U.S. Navy and Iran were entangled in a similarly shadowy conflict called the "Tanker War." While the current tensions are nowhere near the damage done then, it underscores how dangerous the situation is and how explosive it can become. (...)

U.S. officials have told Fox News that the crew of one of the two stricken oil tankers damaged outside the Persian Gulf were detained by the Iranians Thursday after first being rescued by another merchant vessel. The crew of the Front Altair was first rescued by the Hyundai Dubai, according to U.S. officials, but Iranian gunboats quickly surrounded the ship and demanded the crew be turned over. The captain ultimately relented and ordered his crew to surrender. The 23 crew members are now being held in Iran. It’s not immediately clear what the next steps are. Pictures and footage from...

The U.S. military’s Central Command has released a video and some still photographs on June 14 that it says shows Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) removing an unexploded limpet mine from one of the oil tankers that was targeted near the strategic Strait of Hormuz on June 13, suggesting that Iran sought to remove evidence of its involvement from the scene. U.S. Central Command spokesman Bill Urban released the black-and-white footage and two still color photographs. The military says the video shows an IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approaching the Kokuka Courageous “and was observed and recorded removing (an) unexploded...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was right to call the world’s attention Thursday to Iran’s unprovoked attack on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier in the day. Pompeo said the U.S. holds Iran responsible for this dangerous aggression – a clear warning to the mullahs who rule the Islamic Republic that the U.S. will ensure they face consequences. It would be irresponsible for the Trump administration to turn a blind eye to what Pompeo called Iran’s “blatant assault.”

Dozens of Muslim leaders, led by Iman Hassan Shalghoumi, head of the Imams Conference in France, visited the Barkan industrial zone in Samaria on Friday. The extraordinary delegation met with Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan and Sheikh Abu Khalil Tamimi of Ramallah, as part of the international hasbara (public relations efforts) activities of the Samaria Council and the Elant organization in France. Imam Hassan Shalghoumi of France, known for his pro-Israel views, spoke about the visit to the factories in Barkan which employ both Jews and Arabs. "We saw a company in which Israelis and Palestinians work together. I...

As part of a series of sanctions, the White House announced new sanctions targeting the Iranian mullahs’ energetic petrochemical industry. Following calls of the Iranian resistance, the cries of the people to stop human rights violations, and the US commitment to fighting against Iranian Regime terrorism new sanction on the petrochemical industry starts. The new sanctions come while Washington is increasing pressures on Tehran for its ballistic missiles, terrorism, and proxy wars across the Middle East. The U.S. Treasury said Iran’s oil ministry last year awarded Khatam al-Anbiya, the economic and the engineering arm of the regime’s Terrorist Revolutionary Guards...

Attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman have sent tensions soaring between Iran and the United States, and reinforced fears that the two countries could be hurtling toward an unintended war. With no diplomatic relations between the two countries, no serious dialogue underway despite efforts by other countries to mediate, and no let-up in U.S. economic pressure on Iran, former U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and experts said there is a growing risk that a miscalculation, coupled with deep distrust. could trigger a conflict that neither side wants.

This post has been updated with a statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The crew of a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer rescued 21 merchant mariners from a tanker that was allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman, officials told USNI News on Thursday afternoon. USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) responded to a Thursday morning distress call from the tanker M/V Kokuka Courageous, according to U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Lt. Col. Earl Brown. “U.S. Naval Forces Central Command received the calls from the M/V Front Altair and M/V Kokuka Courageous, who were operating in international waters of the Gulf of Oman,”...

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concerns about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation, but Tehran bluntly denied the allegation. It was not immediately clear what befell the Norwegian-owned Front Altair or the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which both experienced explosions, forcing crews to abandon ship and leave the vessels adrift in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran. One source said the blast on the Front Altair, which caught fire and sent a huge plume of smoke into...

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...

...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.

Impose Jizya Tax On London, Pray On The Slopes of The Rockies And Andes Palestinian Sheikh Abu Hanifa Awda said in an address at the Al-Aqsa Mosque that was uploaded to the internet on June 2, 2019, that Jerusalem is the “heartland” where the banners of the Caliphate will flutter, where military convoys and brigades will assemble, and where policies will be designed in order to herald the “dawn of justice” and the birth of the Islamic Caliphate. Sheikh Awda said that the “army of Islam” will set forth from Jerusalem to conquer to world and that it will have...

The situation remains extremely fluid at this time and details are bound to morph in the coming hours, but it seems clear that some sort of maritime incident has occurred in the Sea Of Oman. Reports indicate that at least one tanker is on fire and the UK Maritime Trade Operations group put out a safety bulletin warning of an incident occurring in the Gulf Of Oman and urging extreme caution to mariners operating in the area. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Front Altair appears to be the ship on fire, while reports also state that the Panama-flagged tanker Kokuka Courageous...

DUBAI—Two tankers were damaged in attacks off the coast of Iran early Thursday, including one operated by a Japanese company, on a day when Tehran rebuffed attempts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to ease a military standoff with the U.S. The incidents sent oil prices sharply higher, reigniting fears of trade disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which over a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil is shipped. Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude prices, rose 4% on Thursday to $62.37. The attacks appeared to use relatively sophisticated weapons, according to early assessments, and came within...

Two tankers have been targeted this morning while transiting waters near to Fujairah. Frontline’s fully laden LR 2Front Altair was hit by surface attacks, and an enormous fire ensued forcing the crew to abandon ship. The crew were safely picked up by nearby general cargoship, Hyundai Dubai. Bernhard Schulte’s chemical tanker Kokuka Courageous was also hit.

Lots of differing accounts from different media sources. Some say the tankers were attacked, a couple say “ torpedoed”. Bottom line, there was an incident nvolving two large oil tankers, one is on fire.

Iran’s Al-Alam television network cited local sources in Oman as saying that two successive explosions were heard in the Sea of Oman on Thursday morning. The sources said the blasts were caused by “attacks” on the tankers, according to the report. Local Pakistani sources also said the giant tankers had sent distress calls to the sea’s littoral states, the report added.

UK: Tons of Hizballah explosives in secret bomb factory uncovered in London Terrorists with links to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have reportedly been caught stashing tons of explosive materials in London. “The amount of ammonium nitrate reportedly found was more than that used in the Oklahoma City bombing” 24 years ago, in which at least 168 people were killed and over 680 others injured. This is merely a warning of more to come. The advancement of jihadists in the UK — and in fact most of the West — was facilitated by Leftist leaders who believe to this day...

In an unprecedented move last week, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organisation named ‘Shahed’. This is the first time India has taken a step back from its decades-old position on the two-state theory under which New Delhi sees both Israel and Palestine as separate and independent countries, seeking to bring peace in West Asia.The vote, which took place on 6 June at the UN, saw countries such as US, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, South Korea and Canada polling in favour of...

Foot on pedal, 10-year-old Murtaja Qureiris is about to lead the group of around 30 children. In video footage obtained by CNN, he is wearing rolled up denim jeans and black flip-flops on his feet, and grinning at the camera recording the event. It may look like a regular bike ride, but the group is staging a protest. Moments after they set off, Qureiris gets lost in the sea of boys, struggling to keep up as he lifts a megaphone and presses it against his lips. “The people demand human rights!” he shouts. As a boy, Qureiris participated in demonstrations...