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More info about tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz/Gulf of Oman
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As of now, Thursday morning around noon EST, I have not found ONE statement that substantiates the media frenzy calling these explosions “attacks”. Maybe they tankers were attacked at sea. Maybe they were sabotaged. Maybe they just coincidentally experienced accidents with their extremely flammable cargoes. ALL that anyone is willing to say, including the US NAVY, is that there were fires and/or explosions on the two ships. Yes, it appears likely to be an attack by heathen Muslims, but only media speculation about that exists at this time.
I take pride in the knowledge that if this was an attack by any air or sea borne vessel, our Navy will be placed in full alert status. Any vessel trying it again will be vaporized instantly.
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Report from Bloomberg, updated about a hour or so ago:
The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said it received two separate distress signals at 6:12 a.m. and about 7:00 a.m. local time. “U.S. Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance,” Commander Josh Frey, a spokesman, said. He couldn’t confirm reports that one of the vessels was struck by a torpedo. Iran said it has rescued 44 sailors.
The manager of one tanker, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair, said it was sailing in international waters when it was damaged by an explosion, and that the incident is being treated as a “hostile attack.” The ship had loaded a cargo of naphtha in Abu Dhabi and was bound for Taiwan, a company official said.
A distress call over VHF radio from the Front Altair said the ship was “under attack and on fire,” said Donald MacLeod, a navigation officer on a vessel about 45 miles away on the Oman Sea. “They had to abandon ship.”
Kokuka Sangyo, the Japanese operator of the other ship, said it was attacked twice, three hours apart, forcing the crew to evacuate. The tanker was carrying 25,000 tons of methanol from Saudi Arabia to Asia. Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing Kokuka Sangyo’s chief executive officer, said the ship was hit by a shell.
Also,
The Trump administration said it was evaluating reports of an attack on ships in the Gulf of Oman and will “continue to assess the situation,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email.
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Since the operator of the Japanese tanker says it was attacked twice, 3 hours apart, it seems unlikely that it was an accident. It would be an awfully big coincidence that two tankers in the same general vicinity combusted accidentally, don’t you think?
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I would say, a mine or remotely control torpedo. I will check Jane’s to see if Iran has subs. Could be a PT type boat…..
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Czar wrote something about Iranian sub capability on the Twitter thread.
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Iran has three Kilo subs and some homemade ones. Note the proximity of the attacks to not only Iranian waters but its important base at Jask. There was a recent Iranian naval exercise out of Jask that bore similarities to what we see here. Jask is close enough and the waters there deep enough for an Iranian sub to sneak out, do the dirty, and hightail it back top port. When the US, and perhaps Britain and maybe France, send anti-sub forces I see the Iranians as just pulling back to port and wasting time.
The damage was too minor to have been inflicted by one of Iran’s anti-ship missiles or one of their mines, the ships weren’t destroyed or severely damaged, it is reminiscent of last month’s ‘mysterious’ attacks on two Saudi tankers in UAE territorial waters where limpets were attached to their hulls by combat divers, an attack attributed to Iran. Iran has the subs and divers capable of doing the deed.
Unheralded by the MSM is the almost concurrent arrival in Iran of German and Japanese negotiators looking to ease Iranian-West tensions and prevent a war. The irony of that aside, a provocative incident designed to ratchet up tensions might be the perfect pill to induce heightened negotiations and pressure the West to be a lot more conciliatory to Iranian demands otherwise. The neo-Axis negotiators just might get mo’ nervouser than otherwise and push to ease sanctions and start negotiating a new deal.
The attacks were light, the ships could have easily been sunk with little effort. We see a classic and planned WWII-style broadside attack, almost as it the torpedo were steered into the precise spot that a lesser amount of controlled damages would occur. A determined attack with wake-homing torpedoes or a full-on hit with a powerful broadside would have split and sunk them but note the proximity to Iranian shores – it’s almost as if the shooters didn’t want shiploads of petrocrap washing up on their beaches. It looks like we had an attack with a design to damage but not sink the ships.
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Thanks for bringing up the earlier attacks, and the Japanese visit to Iran.
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Don’t forget the Germans…the other half of the ironic twist.
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Czar you beat me to the drawl……. I think those MINI Subs (2) were used. Those mini subs can operate in shallow water…….
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The water where the ships were hit is deepish but they could have used a Ghadir-class sub to hit the tankers.
To me it really makes no difference as they could use either in the Gulf of Oman – no one was really expecting it. The Ghadirs make a good sub to use in the shallow Persian Gulf but unless the ship drivers are asleep their anti-sub folks should have a bead on it. The water in the Persian are just so shallow. The Ghadirs can work in deep water too, they aren’t limited to the shallows.
I’m still stuck on why they didn’t sink the tankers, they could have done so without breaking a sweat. There are lotsa guesses but I’m betting someone’s chatting up the Israelis right now for info on what’s what.
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My thoughts on the timing of the visit to Iran had me wondering if Abe was carrying a (warning) message from Trump to Iran. This thought popped into my mind as soon as it was announced while Trump is meeting with Abe.
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I should have said, “One CREDIBLE statement.”
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I see comments below that tell me I failed to communicate. Let me clarify. As the evidence mounts and is verified, I expect to find that hostile forces, likely Muslim heathens of one in-breed or another, are behind this. If investigated would they collect back to the Democrat party?
That IS what we are all hoping to see proved, huh?
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This is very disturbing.
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We always assume this is an attack aimed at us.
But is it only aimed at us?
The guy in the vid said they were both Japanese tankers. PM Abe was just in Tehran, asking the Ayatollah Whosits to come back and negotiate a new nuclear deal. Ayatollah Whosits told Abe to ESAD, Iran did not want a nuclear bomb (roflmbo) but if they did Iran would have one.
Perhaps Iran is also trying to inflict damage to our allies?
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Thank you for the RE-FOCUS. Our media led us away from the important connection. Abe and Iran have issues.
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