Iran

[BonnieLass]

Originally Posted by Bfah

With all these ships grouping up, with no one seemingly to know why or what the purpose is - I wonder why no one is listening to the Ships radios

I mean VHF Marine Ch16 (Emergency/Hailing), Ch9 backup Hailing. Ch10 Weather, Ch13 Bridge to Bridge, Ch68-72 General chat.
Maybe Ch13 Bridge to Bridge would have been used by the individual ships captains to 'get together'.

Not hard to listen in...!

The Iranians are using VHF channel 16 to issue orders to the ships, the same channel is used to negotiate passage and payment of the toll.

An important aspect is being missed here.

Every ship and its crew stuck in the Persian Gulf are, in effect, Iranian hostages. Every ship has a price that must be paid before it can leave...tantamount to a ransom. Any ships that try to run the Khasab-Larak / Ramchah line without paying, are attacked. But it does not end there. On the Gulf of Oman side of the Strait, ships have been waiting to enter the Persian Gulf for months now. They too, along with their crews, are effectively hostages of both Iran - who demand a toll / ransom to enter the Persian Gulf - and the USN who also have not allowed ships to pass, granted no toll or ransom as yet from the US but there was discussion of a 50/50 split tween Iran and the US for tolls / ransom.

The crews aboard the ships are innocent victims of the conflict, much like the civilians on land are...but the crews cannot leave, they are supplied with the basics - food, water, medical supplies etc, the shipping companies are doing their best to keep their crews fed and healthy but the mental and physical strain will be immense. Not knowing if or when they can go home, many of the ships are fully laden with oil, methanol, LPG...a ready made floating bomb that either side could lose patience and attack without notice and on a whim. Port facilities within the Persian Gulf are limited on space and capacity, they are not built to handle so many ships that would normally only be there for 36 to 48 hours before leaving and many ports have also been damaged which limits their ability to handle ships further still. Gulf of Oman is still safe despite sporadic attacks on Fujairah, the ships can be resupplied relatively easily and crews can, with a bit of logistics, be replaced...that is not the case for the ships in the Persian Gulf.

Lets not forget the thousands of men and women aboard these ships whilst a war of words continues.....they are all hostages with a price on their heads.

There is still no trace of CMA CGM San Antonio other than her last AIS signal in Dubai before she sailed through the Strait. Fortune Lord and Interstellar are also AIS dark, no trace of either ship despite both entering the Iranian controlled shipping lane north of Larak.

One ship, Grand Mariner, owned by RCL is a containership that has been anchored outside of the Strait of Hormuz on the Gulf of Oman side for the last 4 days seeking permission to enter the Persian Gulf, she like hundreds of others cannot move and frequently has Iranian craft surrounding her. Neither the ship or the shipping company are subject to US sanctions.




Just inside the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, a Norwegian flagged chemical / oil products tanker is also waiting to move. She is owned by Nouri-Alwan Marine and anglo Iraqi / Norwegian company. She departed Khor Al Zubair, Iraq, as you can see, she is not listing her destination only that she is Iraqi with a Russian crew. The ship and shipping company are not subject to US sanctions.

[Chronic Snoozer]

Originally Posted by fdr

CS, thats easy.

Herewith is the plan from the current players

Spoiler

 

 

Page 1

INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK



Page 2

REFER PRIOR PAGE


and here is the original framework of the JCPOA

Spoiler

 

 

Key Requirements and Actions Mandated by the JCPOA

Enrichment

• For 10 years operating centrifuges reduced to 5,060 IR-1 machines, total machines is 6,104 IR-1s
• Excess centrifuges (over 13,000) dismantled and stored under IAEA monitoring
• For 15 years level of uranium enrichment capped at 3.67 percent uranium-235
• For 15 years enrichment only at Natanz
• For 10 years no production of additional IR-1 centrifuges
• Between years 11-13 Iran can replace IR-1s with the equivalent capacity of IR-6 and IR-8 machines and limits lasting to years 14-15

Uranium Stockpile

• For 15 years the stockpile is kept under 300 kilograms of 3.67 percent enriched uranium in total (all forms)
• Excess enriched uranium sold, shipped abroad for storage, or diluted to natural uranium levels
• Uranium oxide and scrap material enriched up to 20 percent fabricated into fuel for Tehran Research Reactor, blended down, or shipped out

Fordow

• Converted to research facility for stable isotope production with Russian cooperation
• 1,044 IR-1 centrifuges in six cascades will remain here, 328 for production, the remaining 700 are idle
• For 15 years no introduction of uranium at the facility

Advanced Centrifuge Research and Development

• For 8.5 years Iran may conduct research with uranium on a single IR-4, IR-5, IR-6 and IR-8 centrifuge at Natanz
• After 8.5 years test up to 30 IR-6s and 30 IR-8s
• After 8 years manufacture up to 200 IR-6s and 200 IR-8s centrifuges without rotors
• For 10 years Joint Commission review and approval of changes to the research and development plan

Arak Reactor

• Remove and disable the original core of the Arak reactor
• Replace the core of the Arak reactor to reduce weapons-grade plutonium output, certified by the Joint Commission
• For 15 years no reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel with an intention to never reprocess
• Permanent commitment to ship out spent nuclear fuel
• For 15 years no heavy-water reactors in Iran
• For 15 years no accumulation of heavy water in Iran
• Construction of hot cells or shielded glove boxes of certain specifications subject to approval of the Joint Commission

Monitoring and Verification

• By 15 October 2015 Iran fully implements PMD “roadmap” agreed with IAEA
• For 10 years approval of the purchase of dual-use materials by the Joint Commission working group
• For 25 years continuous monitoring of lran’s uranium mines and mills
• For 20 years continuous monitoring of lran’s centrifuge production facilities
• For 15 years Joint Commission oversight of IAEA access requests to inspect undeclared sites
• Permanent prohibition of certain weaponization-related activities
• Implementation and eventual ratification of an additional protocol to Iran’s safeguards agreement
• Permanent implementation of modified Code 3.1 of the Subsidiary Arrangements to its Safeguards Agreement

Joint Commission

• For 25 years Joint Commission (composed of P5+1, EU and Iran for a total of 8 voting members) will hold quarterly meetings, or by request, to oversee the deal
• Dispute resolution mechanism within 35 days; 15-day dispute resolution mechanism within the Joint Commission, with optional 15-day ministerial review and/or arbitration opinion from a 3-member panel, followed by 5-day review of the arbitration opinion. If there is no resolution and the complaining party sees the action as “significant non-performance,’ the unresolved issue can be treated as grounds to cease performing commitments in whole or part, complaining party will notify UN Security Council
• Any party can go to the UN Security Council to put sanctions back in place if there is noncompliance by vetoing a resolution calling for the continuance of sanctions

UN Sanctions

• UNSC resolution 2231 endorsing JCPOA outlines termination of all previous resolutions targeting lran’s nuclear program — 1696 (2006), 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008), 1929 (2010) —on implementation day.
• For 10 years sanctions are subject to snapback by veto of a resolution calling for the continuation of suspension
• After 10 years UN will cease to be seized of Iran’s nuclear file
• For 5 years the heavy arms embargo will remain in place
• For 8 years the ballistic missile restrictions will remain in place

U.S. Sanctions

• Cease the application of economic sanctions against lran’s oil and banking sector allowing Iranian banks and companies to reconnect with international systems
• Will remove designation of certain entities and individuals
• Allows for licensed non-U.S. entities that are owned or controlled by a U.S. person to engage in activities with lran permitted under JCPOA
• Allows for the sale of commercial passenger aircraft to Iran
• Allows for license for importing Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuffs into United States
• United States takes appropriate measures to address laws at state or local level preventing full implementation of JCPOA - United States will actively encourage officials to adhere to JCPOA policy
• For 8 years after Adoption date, or sooner if IAEA concludes that all nuclear activity in Iran remains peaceful, U.S. will seek legislative action to terminate/modify nuclear related sanctions
• U.S. sanctions on Iran targeting human rights, terrorism and missile activities remain
• United States can impose additional sanctions for non-nuclear issues (terrorism, human rights, etc.)

EU Sanctions

• Terminate all provisions of the EU Regulation related to Iran’s nuclear program
• Includes: financial and banking transactions; transactions in Iranian Rial; provision of U.S. banknotes to Iranian government; access to SWIFT; insurance services; efforts to reduce Iran's crude oil and petrochemical product sales; investment; transactions with Iran's energy and shipping sector; trade in gold and other precious metals; trade with lran’s automotive sector
• Removes individuals and entities designated under sanctions
• EU refrains from re-introducing sanctions terminated under JCPOA (Iran views any re-introduction as grounds to cease performing its commitments)
• Refrain from policy intended to adversely affect normalization of economic relations with Iran
• For 8 years after adoption day or at the finding of the IAEA broader conclusion EU's arms embargo and restrictions on transfer of ballistic missiles remain


See, easy. The beauty of the current version is it kind of has a Shakespearian aura...

Spoiler

 

 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.



Yes, I see! The original plan had too many words and was…..a plan. How wasteful.

[fdr]

So... the excursion into the surreal has its upside.


Goldman Sachs analysis for the next 18 months is fun reading, although it should correct the information to the $1.92, $1.93 $1.85, $1.83 and even.... $2.05 a gallon that the convenor of festivities recently spoke in his concise manner. At that time, my gas in deep darkest SW USA was $5.52 a short gallon, which is good for global worming, if not warming.

Turns out, USA is a net importer of oil, but that just has to be wrong, Secretary Be$$anT would surely correct those values.

https://www.cfsrating.com/media/5g1j...ven-longer.pdf

[fdr]

Unconfirmed report that the suspension of "Operation Freedom", after 24 hours of activity was related to... MBS being less than impressed with the unilateral action by Agent Orange, which was apparently considered as destabilising to KSA. MBS's response was to rescind US use of KSA military bases, and KSA airspace. It has the ring of some truth, which in itself is a bit of a novelty. It appears that unilateral action that allies are not given forewarning or any say in the matter may well help the US reduce its costs of being based outside of US territory. Such an outcome is not a move towards a safer world, the question is, where on earth are the adults?

[BonnieLass]

Originally Posted by fdr

Unconfirmed report that the suspension of "Operation Freedom", after 24 hours of activity was related to... MBS being less than impressed with the unilateral action by Agent Orange, which was apparently considered as destabilising to KSA. MBS's response was to rescind US use of KSA military bases, and KSA airspace. It has the ring of some truth, which in itself is a bit of a novelty. It appears that unilateral action that allies are not given forewarning or any say in the matter may well help the US reduce its costs of being based outside of US territory. Such an outcome is not a move towards a safer world, the question is, where on earth are the adults?

It seems that Saudi Arabia are not alone in rejecting the use of bases and airspace by the US....it goes back as far as the start of all this at the end of February. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar all said no and that it included refuelling and recovery too.

This dated April 2, 2026 - Gulf states reject use of airspace for U.S. attacks on Iran (Doha News)

Without the use of bases and airspace it was going to be very hard to maintain the Project Freedom....and once again as per this article from yNet Global today, the Gulf States did not know about Project Freedom until after it had started, they were caught by surprise (where have we heard that before in regard to the Iran conflict)

Project Freedom halted after Saudi Arabia suspended US use of its military bases, airspace (yNet - May 7, 2026)

According to the officials, Trump surprised Gulf allies when he announced Project Freedom on his Truth Social platform, angering the Saudi leadership. In response, Saudi Arabia informed the United States that it would not allow the U.S. military to operate aircraft from Prince Sultan Air Base, southeast of Riyadh, or cross Saudi airspace to support the operation.

A call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not resolve the crisis, the two U.S. officials said, forcing the president to halt the project in order to restore the U.S. military’s access to vital airspace. Other close Gulf allies also were surprised by the move, with Trump speaking to Qatar’s leaders only after the effort was already underway.

[Bfah]

Originally Posted by BonnieLass

The Iranians are using VHF channel 16 to issue orders to the ships, the same channel is used to negotiate passage and payment of the toll.

An important aspect is being missed here.

BonnieLass, the important aspect missing is - as I mentioned in my post - is why the press (and us experts), do not know why or what is going on with this current grouping, if it's so easy to just tune into Ch16.
Has the press (one assumes they have a $50 marine radio), tuned into Ch16 to report on what the captains are saying...?

And none of the (thousands of), crew have mobile phones or their own radio..?
Not hard to have a VHF radio and a small antenna... I've got a 70W on VHF that can run on a battery the size of a showbox for 10's of hours.

I dunno, somethings not right and the lack of those mines, is to me another Saddam WMD....

[BonnieLass]

Overnight shipping has remained peaceful on both sides of the Strait of Hormuz and at the other choke point of Bab-el-Mandab. No reports of suspicious activity or attack since CMA CGM San Antonio on May 5, 2026.

CMA CGM San Antonio still hasn't reactivated her AIS, the shipping company is keeping tight lipped as to her condition and position. Her flag state, Malta, has confirmed that all injured crew are being taken care of in Oman. The ship was part of a group of three CMA CGM ships being escorted / guided by USN. The other two ships, CMA CGM Aquila and CMA CGM Saigon, made safe transit. Aquila is currently docked in Khor Fakkan and Saigon is on her way to Colombo, Sri Lanka.





No other ships that began transit through the Strait of Hormuz have so far reactivated AIS.

[BonnieLass]

Originally Posted by Bfah

BonnieLass, the important aspect missing is - as I mentioned in my post - is why the press (and us experts), do not know why or what is going on with this current grouping, if it's so easy to just tune into Ch16.
Has the press (one assumes they have a $50 marine radio), tuned into Ch16 to report on what the captains are saying...?

And none of the (thousands of), crew have mobile phones or their own radio..?
Not hard to have a VHF radio and a small antenna... I've got a 70W on VHF that can run on a battery the size of a showbox for 10's of hours.

I dunno, somethings not right and the lack of those mines, is to me another Saddam WMD....

There have been some transmissions that have gone public from ships within the Persian Gulf...not much though, I agree.

This is from 3 weeks ago

You Tube

It was essentially to all ships, not only to one specific ship. It is intimidating...perhaps not so much for military crews to hear but to merchant ship crews who have not had the training or who do not know how to handle such transmissions, it would be frightening.

The main reason...I believe...that not much is coming through into the public domain is out of basic fear. Initially in the early days crews may have thought Iran was bluffing with their threats of opening fire on ships, that soon changed when ships really were attacked. I would be totally understandable that crews would not want to be making themselves a target...in the same way on land, given that infrastructure was attacked at the height of the conflict, it is better to say nothing and not attract attention to yourself.

[BonnieLass]

In total so far there have been 50 ships attacked since the conflict began, resulting in 117 killed and at least 41 injured (not including CMA CGM San Antonio, shipping company has not released figures). The ships include all nationalities and types.....including Iranian military of which there are 13 of various type. A total of 17 ships were attacked by the US. One ship attacked by unknown / unconfirmed assailant. There are 32 ships, all merchant ships that have been attacked by Iranian forces to date.

Of the three ships that have made visible transit this week, only one has turned on their AIS, the bulk carrier Fortune Lord, she is anchored off Bandar Abbas. There is still no sign of Interstellar, VLCC, or CMA CGM San Antonio, containership. Methanol tanker, Rich Starry, has yet to restart her journey to Mumbai, she was turned around on her first attempt by the USN.

[jolihokistix]

One CMA CGM vessel hit in Strait of Hormuz, another exits Gulf | Reuters
Contains some updates re above posts.

Charles de Gaulle Suez Canal traverse video here.
French carrier group moves closer to Strait of Hormuz for possible mission | AP News

[petit plateau]

Originally Posted by BonnieLass

It seems that Saudi Arabia are not alone in rejecting the use of bases and airspace by the US....it goes back as far as the start of all this at the end of February. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar all said no and that it included refuelling and recovery too.

This dated April 2, 2026 - Gulf states reject use of airspace for U.S. attacks on Iran (Doha News)

Without the use of bases and airspace it was going to be very hard to maintain the Project Freedom....and once again as per this article from yNet Global today, the Gulf States did not know about Project Freedom until after it had started, they were caught by surprise (where have we heard that before in regard to the Iran conflict)

Project Freedom halted after Saudi Arabia suspended US use of its military bases, airspace (yNet - May 7, 2026)

This is consistent with some of the tanker routing and the subsequent midair collision as a result of not being able to have well separated inbound and outbound.

[ORAC]

Doesn't reflect well on the Don....

https://x.com/AimenDean/status/2052314085602292182?s=20

Having spoken to a senior Saudi official about the NBC article regarding Project Freedom, I honestly think the article completely misunderstood what actually happened because it was written almost entirely from a US perspective rather than from a GCC perspective.

First of all, contrary to the impression being created, the GCC were NOT blindsided by Project Freedom.

They knew about it beforehand. Roughly half a day before. The airspace was opened. The facilities were available. Nobody objected. There was broad support for the idea because, at least publicly, Project Freedom was supposed to be a limited humanitarian-security operation aimed at relieving the 22,000 sailors trapped around Hormuz and allowing shipping lanes to breathe again.

Nobody in the GCC had a problem with that.

But here is the issue .. and this is the part the NBC article completely misses.

If you are asking GCC countries to participate in such an operation, then you need to be upfront about the rules of engagement from day one!

You cannot say:
“Please open your skies and bases, expose your energy infrastructure” …only for everyone to discover afterwards that the actual American policy was apparently:

“Oh by the way, if Iran attacks you with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in several waves, we still won’t retaliate because Donald Trump is busy chasing The Deal.”

And this is exactly what shocked the Saudis. Not the Iranian attack itself.

The UAE/GCC expected retaliation.. This is Iran. Nobody in the Gulf is naïve about that anymore. The shock came from the American reaction afterwards.

You had attacks against Emirati infrastructure. Fujairah was targeted. Multiple waves involving drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles. And Washington’s response was basically:
“Meh. Minor incident. Let’s not escalate.”

Minor incident?! For the GCC that was madness.

Because what Riyadh, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi suddenly realized was that Trump’s obsession with preserving “The Deal” had apparently reached the point where Gulf energy infrastructure was now considered acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit of his precious negotiations.

Everything became:
The deal.
The deal.
The beautiful deal.
The greatest deal.
The mother of all deals. The ultimate “Art of the deal”.

Or perhaps, more accurately:
The ultimate fart of the deal. Because from the Gulf perspective, this stopped looking like strategy and started looking like desperate political vanity mixed with deadly wishful thinking.

Had the GCC been told beforehand:
“Listen, whatever Iran does to you during Project Freedom, America will not retaliate because we do not want to endanger negotiations…” …they would have almost certainly refused participation from the start.

The problem was not Project Freedom itself. The problem was discovering midway through the operation that the GCC countries were apparently expected to sit there quietly as punching bags while Washington played negotiation theatrics with Tehran. So the Saudis and Kuwaitis pulled plug!

Because the GCC know something US usually forgets: Iran plays the long game.

You can freeze enrichment.
Pause enrichment.
Delay enrichment.
Sign ten agreements.
Twenty agreements.
Forty agreements. But if the infrastructure remains…
If the centrifuges remain…
If the IRGC remains…
If the proxy network remains… then eventually the game resumes.

There will be another distraction.
 Another pandemic.
 Another financial crisis.
 Another war somewhere else.
 Another paralysis in Washington. And while the world is distracted, enrichment quietly resumes again.

Ironically, much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile expanded during the pandemic years precisely because global attention was elsewhere.

Judging by the reaction to the UAE attacks, the Saudis and Kuwaitis concluded that Trump’s version of deterrence had become:

“Please absorb the missiles quietly because I’m trying to write the sequel to “The Fart of the Deal.”

[BonnieLass]

A nice quiet day for the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. So far no-one has attacked anyone, which is very good news. The downside is that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed in both directions to those who will not pay to leave and some of those which have left are still not reactivating their AIS (Interstellar and CMACGM San Antonio).

Below is a screenshot of the entire region as it stands right now...not a lot of movement, no huddles this evening (local time).

In relation to the many spots and arrows...

Red are crude oil, oil products and chemical carriers
Green are general cargo, boxships, livestock carriers, car carriers and bulk carriers
Dark blue are passenger ships and oil platforms / platform accommodation blocks
Light blue are tugs, offshore supply, ekranoplan, patrol boats, pilot boats, military and unspecified types
Dark pink are pleasure cruisers
Faded red are fishing and fish factory ships
Grey are unspecified (usually military)




Everything is quiet and running smoothly at the other end, Bab-el-Mandab too.

[fdr]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Fixed it for you

There is a learning point or two in this circus.

• Hubris is a term that seems to need to be re-learnt periodically, to avoid karma.
• Beware what you wish for, when you drain the swamp, it can stink more than it used to.
• Deliberately denigrating and insulting your allies might play well to your audience but the consequences might need to be taking into account in your ops plan.
• Lie down with Putin and you might catch fleas.

Operationally, denial of airspace for military operations probably explains why the KC135Rs are drilling holes in the racetracks in an area of the gulf that looks unwise otherwise. Options to transit to the area of interest seems to be getting pretty reliant in Iraq, which should bring back some memories of other recent bad decisions. The nearest friendly turf is Diego which has the potential for some political issues. African bases such as Djibouti are inviting to Yemen... and further south and west US basing comes with the risk of destabilising security of the state. If the plan is to disregard allies, then it may be time to build more targets carriers or to reactivate the boats that have recently been retired. In the age of drones, carriers look a lot like the battleship with the advent of the dive bomber and quiet submarines.

[fdr]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50

I was alive in 1979. Were you?
Iran's clients all over the Middle East do this crap as part of their anti Western, anti Israel effort. It is a matter of policy and practice.
Look up 'axis of resistance' for further detail on terrorism as a policy...since about 1979.
Don't let your distaste for the current, ill-advised decision to start this war in the Persian Gulf blind you to the hard reality of what the regime in Iran habitually does, and has for almost 50 years.
Or, you can be an apologist and make excuses for them.
Your call.
As to PH and DJT's various utterances: if you think that hypberbole is truth, that's on you. I can't help you there.

There is probably not a big fan club of the big A and his regime in general on this forum, or outside of the 5m Iranians that benefit from having a repressive and brutal regime. Would imagine that Airscotia is not an avid fan of Iran. What he says is still reasonable, 2 Wongs don't make a White, future generations, (if they occur which seems to be more in question today than it was when you and I were off chasing ballistic subs, in the Cold War) will have the opportunity to consider the ethics and legality of this bit of our history. The enthusiasm to normalise Putins crimes seems to play into the whole question of morality.

An agreement flawed or not, existed for a brief moment in time and the effectiveness of that has been condemned by the team that have brought the termination of that agreement, and then during the next set of negotiations decided that tipping over the commode was a brilliant plan. That takes us to today, where we have no agreement at all, one seriously irritated son of the Ayatollah who was plinked along with a substantial amount of his direct family, in an undeclared use of military force, which used to be the common definition of war, undeclared. Continuing to be morally outraged by the day of infamy back before xmas of 1941 seems to be insincere given the attacks that are done routinely as foreign policy today. Iran doesn't make it easy to like their government, but it appears to be a common trait.

So, no agreement, no likelihood of an agreement, a critical global trade route terminated, allies rather annoyed with those that thought this was a brilliant plan, and with the continued ue of boorish tactics with those same allies, a withdrawal of support that complicates the logistics of any substantive action by the US military short of using ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. At least they are cheap.

Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50

For BonnieLass:
Yes, the sailors and their families didn't ask for this, but this is the crap sandwich they get to eat for a while.
Stinks, no matter how you look at it.

If they scrape the poop of those sandwiches, the crews out in the IO right now would probably be appreciative, would be better than their current fare. The DOD gets to feed Hegseth caviar and lobster tails, the sailors get food that any self respecting Labrador would decline.

A suggested action plan wish list is to:

• Take care of your own troops, they can vote.
• Be polite even with heads of state in the US allies, like MBS etc, they may be homicidal, (allegedly) but they have feelings.
• Send the clowns to the circus, and use actual diplomats if they are still anywhere to be found, to go and have a chat with Iran, they may not have all the cards, but the US is holding the aforementioned crap sandwich.

[WillowRun 6-3]

. . . and in further news,

"Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have lifted restrictions on the U.S. military’s use of their bases and airspace imposed after the start of the American operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. and Saudi officials, removing a hurdle that had tripped up President Trump’s effort to move ships through the vital waterway.

The Trump administration is now looking to restart the operation to guide commercial ships with naval and air support that it had paused after 36 hours this week, U.S. officials said. It isn’t clear when that could happen though Pentagon officials gave a timeline of as early as this week."

Wall Street Jrnl website (May 7)

[Lonewolf_50]

It would seem to be in their interest to reopen the strait, so perhaps they see doing that as furthering that objective.

[TUPE]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2021zg819lt

[ORAC]

WaPo: https://archive.is/20260506111059/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/05/06/iran-us-bases-satellite-images/

Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show

Imagery published by Iranian state-affiliated media and verified by The Post shows damage to at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites.

[Lyneham Lad]

Looking on FR24 there are in the region of a dozen tankers in the air over the region so presumably they are supporting a new wave of activity.