Posted on 08/22/2006 6:24:11 AM PDT by Perdogg
Iran is set to respond later Tuesday to a demand from the West that it stop enriching uranium, but a more pressing matter appeared to be taking place in the Persian Gulf, where the Islamic republic's military fired on and took over a Romanian oil rig. According a Bloomberg report, an Iranian naval vessel opened fire on the rig with machine guns, boarded it and seized control of the radio room. The rig is owned by Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere. A representative of the rig's owner said in the report that it has 26 workers on board.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
Shots heard round the world?
No. probably means they folded up their tent and need to show their people how brave they are today. I bet the war games were face saving too. They are too sneaky to straight up challenge.
They figure we are so desperate to make nice we'll be willing to look for any silver lining. Sadly we need these jerks more than they need us.
Oil Rigs are vessels. Firing on and boarding them is an act of war............
Iran calls on UAE to help return "Persian Gulf hijacked drilling rig"
Aug 15, 2006
AFP
The state-owned Petroiran oil company on Tuesday urged the United Arab Emirates to help return an offshore drilling rig it says was "hijacked from Iranian waters". "We call on the UAE officials to prevent the 'Fortuna' from entering the UAE in order to respect recognized international commercial ties and to prepare the ground for returning the oil rig to Iran," Petroiran managing director Mostafa Khoee said.
"Petroiran will pursue the matter by taking legal measures," he added.
Khoee said the Fortuna, owned by Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere, had been rented by Iran's Oriental Oil Kish for two years.
But the two companies are involved in a legal dispute for return of the rig, which Iran claims is still under rental contract.
"A vessel on its way to Al-Fujayrah (UAE) illegally entered waters of Iran's Hangam gas field and towed the oil rig out of Iranian waters," Khoee said.
Hangam field is in the Strait of Hormoz, 20 kilometers south of Qeshm island in the Persian Gulf. The field, shared jointly with Oman, is the subject of studies to draw up a master plan for its development.
Exploitation of the Hangam gas field has been delayed because the necessary drilling equipment to sink appraisal wells was not procured on time.
Just four foreign-owned rigs are currently active in Iranian oil projects.
NATO needs to admit Romania today.
From the content of the article, it appears that the "Fortuna" the rig the Romanians "absconded with" is also Romanian property.
Iran has stated that if they are attacked by anyone, their first response will be to fire on Israel. I don't think they care who fires the first shot.
It is.......
http://www.nato.int/structur/countries.htm
I thought they were a member.
True. But these are Iranians we're talking about. Hostage taking is just part of contract negotiations when you're Iranian.
I'm not sure how Romania fits into all of this, I think they were just a handy, poorly defended target.
This bears watching. I doubt that Romania has anything akin to the Navy SEALS available to take it back. But I still see this more as a challenge to Saudi Arabia than anything else. It's like Iran is telling Saudi that from now on it's the Shi'ites that are the main players, not the Wahhabist Sunnis.
They have this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/307th_Marine_Battalion
Thanks for the ping.
Shades of North Korea stealing the Pueblo, I remember that fiasco playing out several decades ago.
bump
bump
Romania has been a NATO member since 2004.
Have we blasted the Iranian ship out of the water yet?
Why not?
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