Dupe Post
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According to The Telegraph, we came within moments of open warfare with Iran. Iranian patrol boats harassed the US Navy in international waters in the Straits of Hormuz over the weekend. They dropped unknown objects in the water and sent a threat of attack over the radio, only dispersing as the commander of the American fleet gave orders to open fire:
A Pentagon spokesman revealed that five Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy boats harrassed and provoked three US ships in the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf at the weekend.The Iranian craft came within 200 yards of the US vessels, which were sailing in international waters.
The Iranian provocations included disregarding warnings to pull back, dropping mysterious objects in the path of the US ships and a hostile radio transmission.
The Pentagon said a radio message warned: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes."
Ten months ago, the Iranians tested British resolve in the Gulf, and came away with an important propaganda victory after capturing 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines. The UK did not engage in a military response, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the Brits a "gift" by returning the captives.
Undoubtedly, Iran wanted to test American resolve, but could not isolate a small enough vessel to pursue a similar mission. Instead, they basically did a probe to see how far they could go before provoking an armed response. This information could prove useful for Iran's terrorist partners in Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in the Gulf and elsewhere. It looks suspiciously like a dry run for a repeat of the USS Cole bombing in Aden seven years ago.
This cannot be allowed to happen again. The next time patrol boats approach American vessels and threaten attack, one of them has to head to the bottom of the gulf. If the Iranians want a test, we can provide them with one for emergency evac.
Make my day.
US Navy commanders were moments away from firing on Iranian attack ships during a skirmish in the Straits of Hormuz, it has emerged......Fire away!
Getting serious ...ping!
This is big. Maybe it’s just Persians riding out to flip the bird at their enemy, but it could go south quickly. Oil is down $2 to $95 in response.
Iran spy post heightens Gulf tension with US
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By Gethin Chamberlain, Sunday Telegraph
Iran has established a sophisticated spying operation at the head of the Gulf in a move which has significantly heightened tensions in its standoff with the United States.
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Why would our commanders allow this? How many drive by explosions from rubber rafts shall we tolerate?
Who would benefit from closing the Strait? Russia as producer would, but Europe, Japan, China, and India as market would not.
How did the Iranians know there was “an order to fire?” If they simply intercepted a radio transmission, then that needs to be fixed. The Iranian’s first warning should have been pieces of boat flying.
Those intimidators need their asses kicked just for the example...
It won’t happen again I bet. We actually had our finger on the button to make some Iranian fish food. Historically its been a form of counting “coup” the American Indians did it to harass soldiers. We could play the game but up the stakes, I mean put some heads on stakes.
I ernestly hope somebody has a plan to step ahead of the game, get a Predator to hang around and stop them as they leave shore.
They'd have been shark sh** at 10x that distance had I been at the trigger.
They were expecting our soldiers to play nice like the Brits. That Fire Away command was not foreseen...
Hmmm. Nice way for the Iranians to test to see how close they could get to our fleet with a nuclear weapon. A 10 KT bomb detonated within 200 yards would destroy much of the fleet if I am not mistaken.
The commander of that Navy group should have cranked up the CIWIS and turned them into confetti. Those boats were allowed to get way too close. If they’d had torpedoed and the intent to fire them, we’d have three sunk ships.