Iran seizes commercial ship
According to CNN, Iran’s naval forces have fired upon and seized the M/V Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands flagged vessel while it was transiting the Straits of Hormuz. Apparently Iran charges that the ship violated it’s territorial waters;
“The master was contacted and directed to proceed further into Iranian territorial waters. He declined and one of the IRGCN craft fired shots across the bridge of the Maersk Tigris,” said Warren. “The master complied with the Iranian demand and proceeded into Iranian waters IVO Larak Island.”
After the shots were fired, the Tigris issued a distress call which was picked up by U.S. forces in the area and the USS Farragut was ordered to head towards the incident. The closest U.S. warship was 60 miles from the incident.
The report also states that the Republican Guards troops boarded the ship.
CNN says that there are no Americans aboard the ship, but that US aircraft are monitoring the activities.
Category: Terror War
So, here we go. Knew it was coming just didn’t think it would be so soon. I have no doubt Obama’s response will be, “If we help recover this ship which was traversing international waters, seized illegally by Iran…will it hamper our pending nuclear deal? That’s all I care about. Maybe if we up the signing bonus to $100 billion, they’ll turn it loose.”
And why is this OUR problem, exactly? It’s not our ship, and no Americans were on board.
Zactly!!!
It’s flagged to the Marshall Islands and that makes it an American ship for all intents and purposes. Apparently we provide all defense for them and their citizens serve in our armed forces.
…Because the next one is a tanker. I hope that somebody on the White House staff is explaining what will happen to gas prices the first time one of those RG ships opens fire on a supertanker.
And note also that it was RG forces that did this. There’s a message there, too.
Mike
It is an American Ship.
I have very little experience in this area, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t one of the big no-no’s flying the flag of another country on a ship? Granted, ownership and licensing and all that can make it murky, but if it’s an American ship, shouldn’t it be flying an American flag?
We have a signed agreement with the Republic of the Marshall Islands which encumbers the US as the island nation’s protector. The exact verbiage is as follows:” ..the obligation to defend the Republic of the Marshall Islands and its people from attack or threats thereof as the United States and its citizens are defended;” According to that legal definition, Iran attacked a US ship.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm?utm_content=buffer8af2c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Just think what will happen to gas prices if they manage to drop that tanker and a few of its friends in the Strait of Hormuz.
Granted, that would just be cutting off their own nose to spite their face, but… In terms of navigating a supertanker through there, it’s narrow and shallow.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2014/02/13/how-deep-is-the-strait-of-hormuz/
“The closest U.S. warship was 60 miles from the incident.”
And I’m sure the Iranians were well aware of that fact. And isn’t the TR in the Gulf of Aden? If it was in the North Arabian Sea or the Arabian Gulf, I know the Iranians wouldn’t pull this shit.
And the closest Tomohawk is about 3 mins away!
Good point, Master Chief, but there’s something about a carrier on the horizon that really increases the pucker pressure.
Time to take out those silkworm missile sites in the Straits of Hormuz. I hated transiting that area…
Ahhh, shades of Operation Earnest Will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Earnest_Will
Strait of Hormuz is a nasty area.
Marshall Islands are a U.S. territory where we do a lot of testing as I recall. I would venture to guess this in direct response to our blockading the Iranians from delivering weapons to Yemen. Plan on seeing a lot more of it in the days to come. And our response from this toothless administration? “Monitor” the situation. At least our Navy Global Force for Good has cool aquaflage uniforms so they can sneak in undetected and stealthily recover the ship. Don’t get sensitive on me, fellow squids. I used to be an AW1.
Is it possible that there is something on that ship that is actually intended for Iran and this entire thing is a ruse to hide that fact? Iran pulls the ship into port and unloads what is theirs (possibly something agreed to during the “nuclear negotiations”), meanwhile, Obama sternly instructs Iran to release the ship. Iran gets whatever is theirs and releases the ship. Obama gets to look like a manly man on the international stage. Everybody wins, except American citizens.
Maybe they’re just sizing up the competition for the camel races over in Abu Dhabi, and wanted a free ride over there for their own entries.
But what do I know?
If any of the crew of the Tigris is black and comes to any harm, I am going to burn down my neighborhood pharmacy!
Burn down a rug shop, they’re often owned by Iranian expats. Cause, you know, those guys love the mullahs so much.
Tread lightly, you two, before someone comes on here howling about how racist we all are.
/sarc
They’re racist.
AWOOOOOOO!!!!
Just kidding.
From the legal department,
Knock it off. We know you are joking, but sarcasm does not translate well in court. Bethesda is too close to Baltimore.
S.
Understood. Sorry. I will joke no more. P.S. – I don’t live anywhere near MD ….not my neighborhood.
Whoa, there is a legal department over here?
Time to send their entire Navy to the bottom of the Straight like we did back in the ’80s.
BIG thumbs up!
They wouldn’t know what hit them.
Well thank goodness the adults in charge in the White House are “monitoring” the situation. Wonder what Valerie Jarrett is advising.
My understanding is that she’s telling Harf to go out there and say it happened because of a youtube movie made by the ship’s captain that insulted Islam.
/sarc
Yeah, and reminding Barf (Harf) to tell us all its because they don’t have day jobs..
You’d have to ask why the RG would stop a container ship. Well, since the beginning of April, the Tigris made four stops in Turkey and one at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before entering the Persian Gulf, which may mean that she is transporting stuff that might be useful to the Iranian government in building weapons, such as piping and other metal products.
But what do I know?
Nothing! I know nothing!
I really think that cargo ships going through potentially hostile areas should be allowed to post a few cannons on their decks, for self-defense.
Here’s an update via twitter-pating:
https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/593085061274046466
The Tigris has been released, per al-Jazeera. It’s a the bottom of the twitter feeder page.
Well…. maybe they did offload something and this was a smokescreen to do it undetected. I AM getting cynical in my old age.
The idea is plausible.
According to the AIS system, as of 3 hours 15 minutes ago, she was still anchored off Bandar Abbas.
Here. On the control panel on the left side, click the funnel then click ship names.
For those who may wonder if she strayed into Iranian waters, here is her track before and after seizure.
Iran has seized the ship and holding her and the crew.
Here is the news story on Fars News.
If I understand correctly this is straight up piracy.
Even if we don’t give a damn about the Marshal Islands I think that we should give a damn about piracy – particularly by someone who we are negotiating a nuclear weapons agreement with.
Ten years ago, this would have been an international incident.
Five years ago, this would have been a headline story.
Now, everyone is wondering what golf course the pResident is going to since the one in Baltimore is closed for security reasons.
I bet the UN writes one hell of a letter!!!
Oh, Hanz Bwix, you breakin my bawlz…
O/T but also according to CNN: Veterans shouldn’t be cops because we are prone to violence Elijah Cummings seen nodding in approval http://freebeacon.com/issues/cnn-anchor-on-baltimore-riots-some-veterans-are-coming-home-ready-to-do-battle/
It is sick what they said, just sick. I can’t even fathom how their minds work to come up with that inane shit. Really, if I didn’t see that clip, I would not have believed that anyone could say such a thing, let alone two people, one of whom is a US Congressman. That is sick.
But you see, our combat vets are the ones who carry THE SCARY BLACK GUNS!!!! Anybody who carries one of those must be READY TO DO BATTLE!!!!
I gagged just writing that. Damn.
This is pay back for us turning back there 9 ship convoy. They know we are the protector for the
Marshall Islands so they took this ship because it
was close to one of there ports. Now the chess
match begins.
This ship business smells funny, like everything else involving this administration.
We will see an exchange shortly!
I have been there and done that with Iran 2 times. 82 (then on to Beruit for the evac) and 87 – 88 (if my file system serves me correctly).
A Skipper of a USS does not need permission to fire.
Iran will provoke now, the Skipper will fire.
Mark my words and your calendar. It is game on with Iran!
I suspect within coming days and weeks we will.
Betcha WH is dusting off agreement with Marshall Islands and asking, “what do we do?”
And saying, “OMG I did not know that”.
The Iranians knew that …
CO of USS: “Iranian vessel, stand off, I intend to fire”.
Operator of Iranian Vessel: “Alla is great and death to America”.
CO of USS: “Yes Sir, all Iranian vessels destroyed, just like OPERATION PRAYING MANTIS”.
Pentagon: “BRAVO ZULU, proceed to (redacted) for BBQ and beer provided by King (redacted)”.
I doubt that B. Hussein 0bama let even the thought of that interrupt his latest game of golf or the planning of his next vacation,
Jonn posted this story on April 28th. Today is April 30th. On the 28th, besides the Maersk Tigris there was one other ship in the harbor off Bandar Abbas. Now there are 26 and most of them are flying Iranian flags. They are a variety of oil tankers, general cargo, a bunkering tanker, and container ships.
I wonder if someone is thinking about stopping and boarding every vessel in the Persian Gulf with an Iranian flag. I wonder if the Iranians are thinking it would be better if that didn’t happen.