Posted on 04/22/2020 6:31:25 AM PDT by Bruiser 10
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, a week after 11 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to U.S. ships in the Gulf.
Close interactions with Iranian military vessels were not uncommon in 2016 and 2017. On several occasions, U.S. Navy ships fired warning shots at Iranian vessels when they got too close.
While the Navy has the authority to act in self-defense, Trump’s comments appeared to go further and are likely to stoke tensions between Iran and the United States.
“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Trump wrote in a tweet, hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had launched the country’s first military satellite into orbit.
Earlier this month, the U.S. military said eleven vessels from the IRGCN came dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative.”
At one point, the Iranian vessels came within 10 yards of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Maui.
While such interactions at sea had occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped recently.
(Excerpt) Read more at oann.com ...
No vessel should be able to get within 1,000 yards of our ships without authorization.
L
Iran tries to block the Strait of Hormuz and the price of oil shoots up to.....$20 a barrel.
Now that was funny!
We no longer let our sailors get on their knees. EXCELLENT!
The press is thrilled. This will give them the opportunity for more “gotcha” questions at today’s Corona Virus Task Force Briefing.
Oil spikes as Trump threatens action against Iran
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/oil-price-trump-threatens-iran
Within 10 yards ???? That seems like an attempted boarding....no ship should be within 1000 yards of any of ours !
The terrorist attack against the USS Cole gives full justification, even a requirement, to destroy any “small” craft approaching any US Navy ship.
Every skipper shoul be reminded of that.
This CIC will back you up.
What was this cutters commander waiting on to fire? If it were a suicide bomber they were already hit.
They have recently tested using AC130 as armed overwatch in the Arabian Gulf.
It would be a shame if they miss any of the mullah’s ski boats when they open up and get some.
“West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, gained 32 percent to $15.29 a barrel after having fallen to an overnight low of $10.26. WTI was trading at $11.37 ahead of the president’s tweet.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, was higher by 11 percent at $21.49.”
I think it would be more entertaining, as well as good training, to use the naval Bushmaster II gun (30-40mm) in a semi-automatic mode, as a sniper rifle to turn their engine, through their hull, into scrap metal.
If we sink their gunboats, we will be required by the Law of the Sea to rescue and care for survivors, and we will get whined at by the usual suspects for it and any Iranians killed. But if we disable their gunboats, the Iranians will have to tow them to shore, and may or may not be able to fix them, costing them money and repair time in their maintenance dock.
Right on. I would consider getting within 10 yards an attack. But I also think warning shots should have been fired before they got anywhere near that close.
Absolutely true on the warning shots.
Got a general question for anyone who knows: Just how far down can a ship-borne CWIS unit aim? Can it intercept (read as ‘turn into swiss cheese’) close-in surface craft?
The AC130 is awesome, but these Navy ships have something even better against small boats....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrre7STy5Pw
Meet the Phalanx CIWS
See 16...... short video of the Phalanx making toothpicks out of all kinds of things including small boats
And I bet that in the Gulf, neither ship is steaming slow.
Do we know what rules are established for shooting down drones that are surveilling our warships?
What is a reasonable boundary in international waters, for warships, for “patrol boats” to come by and inspect?
We are talking international waters here, no matter how crowded they may be.
Trump is no dummy. He knows that a statement like this will increase oil prices, something that was badly needed to help our US producers.
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