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Originally Posted by Bfah
(Post 12082361)
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 :8
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...! 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. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7c30c63608.png 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. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2a6f4213bc.png |
Originally Posted by fdr
(Post 12082390)
CS, thats easy.
Herewith is the plan from the current players
Spoiler
and here is the original framework of the JCPOA
Spoiler
See, easy. The beauty of the current version is it kind of has a Shakespearian aura...
Spoiler
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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 |
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?
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Originally Posted by fdr
(Post 12082424)
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?
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. |
Originally Posted by BonnieLass
(Post 12082392)
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. 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.... |
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. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5d96a7e66a.png https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d0b3bcfb85.png No other ships that began transit through the Strait of Hormuz have so far reactivated AIS. |
Originally Posted by Bfah
(Post 12082449)
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.... This is from 3 weeks ago 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. |
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. |
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 |
Originally Posted by BonnieLass
(Post 12082445)
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) |
Doesn't reflect well on the Don....
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.” |
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) https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a450e9968b.png Everything is quiet and running smoothly at the other end, Bab-el-Mandab too. |
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Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
(Post 12082731)
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. 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
(Post 12082731)
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. A suggested
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. . . 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) |
It would seem to be in their interest to reopen the strait, so perhaps they see doing that as furthering that objective.
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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. |
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.
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....................
According to the Washington Post, citing people with knowledge on the matter, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) delivered a confidential assessment to administration officials with the key judgment that Iran can weather the U.S. blockade for at least three to four months. Additionally, the assessment reportedly says that Iran still retains significant ballistic missile stockpiles despite U.S.-Israeli strikes on underground facilities. Per the report, and tracking with past reporting on the subject, “75 percent of its prewar inventories of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its prewar stockpiles of missiles.” |
The UAE has just officially announced the deployment of a squadron of Egyptian fighter jets to the country. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2ed93f0915.png |
Originally Posted by ORAC
(Post 12082871)
....................
"Iran can weather the U.S. blockade for at least three to four months.” |
Originally Posted by Lyneham Lad
(Post 12082868)
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.
Entirely possible as there was this report earlier and the markets are showing a sudden drop in the last few hours and there are also reports that ground targets have been struck Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats at the USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason on Thursday, according to reports. The U.S. military said Iran did not hit any assets during the attacks. Reuters reported that the ships were transiting the Strait of Hormuz when the attacks occurred, describing them as “unprovoked.” The three destroyers were passing through the key global waterway at the time, the outlet said. Posted by Emma Bussey A U.S. strike on Iran’s Qeshm Port in the Strait of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas were reported Thursday, with U.S. officials telling Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin that this was neither a restart of the war nor an end to the ceasefire. The U.S. military also struck Iran's Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab, officials confirmed. The development came as Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency also reported air defense activity in western Tehran. Two other loud explosions were heard Thursday night, while eyewitnesses told Iran International they heard multiple blasts in Chitgar. Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency also reported attacks and exchanges of fire across Iran’s southern Hormozgan province near Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khamir, Sirik and Qeshm Island, according to reports. Thursday’s strike on Iran’s major port came two days after Iran fired 15 ballistic and cruise missiles at the UAE’s Fujairah Port. Those strikes sparked anger among Gulf countries, officials told Griffin, though Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine had said during a Pentagon briefing May 5 that those attacks did not amount to a violation of the ceasefire. Hegseth and Caine described the attacks as low-level incidents that did not rise to that threshold. President Donald Trump paused Project Freedom May 5, a military operation aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and guiding ships through the waterway, after announcing the operation May 3. A senior U.S. official also confirmed Thursday that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were “very angry at the reaction from the Pentagon” and temporarily halted permission for the U.S. to use their bases and airspace for Project Freedom. The decision has since been reversed, the official said. Thursday U.S. strikes came as Washington awaited Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal. Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. Posted by Emma Bussey |
Originally Posted by DogTailRed2
(Post 12082877)
That's a lot longer than the West.
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Iran's military command, official statement, tonight: U.S. attacked 2 Iranian vessels near Jask and Fujairah. U.S. and "regional countries" struck civilian areas in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, and Qeshm. Iran retaliated. U.S. warships hit east of Hormuz, south of Chabahar. Damage confirmed. Iran's words. Dubai and Abu Dhabi now reporting explosions. This is Iran's official account of how the ceasefire ended. "Criminal and aggressive America and its supporting countries should know, Iran will respond decisively to any aggression." The ceasefire lasted 30 days. Tonight it died. |
Iran retaliated. U.S. warships hit east of Hormuz, south of Chabahar. Damage confirmed. Iran's words. Based on some previous reports by Iran, which turned out to be untrue as regards striking US warships, I'll wait for more information. But yes: the cease fire seems to be dead. |
Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
(Post 12082888)
Let's see what CENTCOM has to say.
Based on some previous reports by Iran, which turned out to be untrue as regards striking US warships, I'll wait for more information. But yes: the cease fire seems to be dead. |
Originally Posted by ORAC
(Post 12082876)
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I gather from that Photo that the Egyptians are going to offer combat air sorties in support of ops from Saudi Arabia?
Or is that a reach? |
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"The dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave."
TR wept.
Originally Posted by WSJ
President Trump stated that the cease-fire with Iran remains in place, describing recent U.S. strikes as a "love tap." This assertion comes amidst escalating tensions and military actions between the two nations.
*sigh* The Reality TV Show continues... I am sure that in Iran, they are now playing this nice song by Culture Club. OK, fair, not likely. Somewhere, deep in the Pentagon, someone is telling someone else "Ya need to 86 that briefcase. Yeah, deep down below {a certain place}" Out at sea, on the destroyers, the crusty old Chiefs are having a coffee in the Chief's Mess. "OK, who had butterfly allusions on their Bingo card? Nobody? Me neither. The pot rolls over again, put up your bets for tomorrow..." :ugh: |
Latest. look at the shipping situation in the strait.
Thanks to Sal. |
Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
(Post 12082882)
Please tell me: who is "The West" and why can't they handle this?
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I used to say "May the Fourth be With You" to my dad, since May 4 was his birthday.
He wasn't a Star Wars fan. All I got was a slight raise of the eyebrows, if that. But my siblings enjoyed our little joke. |
Originally Posted by ORAC
(Post 12082871)
....................
According to the Washington Post, citing people with knowledge on the matter, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) delivered a confidential assessment to administration officials with the key judgment that Iran can weather the U.S. blockade for at least three to four months. Additionally, the assessment reportedly says that Iran still retains significant ballistic missile stockpiles despite U.S.-Israeli strikes on underground facilities. Per the report, and tracking with past reporting on the subject, “75 percent of its prewar inventories of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its prewar stockpiles of missiles.” Matching categories is of course more complex, and the USA at least has other world areas to pay attention to (not the least Ukraine, not that you'd tell from the behaviour of the trump administration) and so any public domain discussion is going to be very difficult. But what does seem clear, is that future success by USA et al cannot be guaranteed in a risk free manner. |
Well apart from the "love taps" and apparent exchange of fire concerning the USN (none of which is confirmed with UKMTO - military ships that experience what has been described do get included on the UKMTO lists usually)...all has been quiet overnight in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman and Bab-el-Mandab.
One ship that had gone dark after starting her transit of the Strait of Hormuz has now come back online, Interstellar. She is currently south of Karachi and on her way to Osaka. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9099d9df9e.png Unfortunately there is still no sighting of CMA CGM San Antonio, still no news or sighting of her. As for the social media post (and the Pulp Fiction from Hegseth).....why are they behaving as if this is a video game or reality TV show....this is a real life conflict, with real people who are getting killed and injured. I do not understand the devil may care attitudes being shown on this. It is sickening. I totally understand why the Gulf States are starting to turn their back and get angry, they are afterall in the front line of any retaliation from Iran and they all have a lot to lose. Much was said about the proverbial "walls have ears" and "loose lips sink ships"...yet we have daily commentary from the CiC via social media as to what is planned, what will happen, what is happening...might be OK on a video game but in real life conflict...not...you don't do that cos it endangers everyone on the front line (common sense to those who have it). |
Perhaps Trump's game is simply to blockade the Straits for as long as possible and by any means necessary - forcing up the oil price to inflict damage on Europe and to boost Putin's oil revenues.
Trump has said this will be a quick war. That actually means it will be a long one. |
Questions are being raised regarding the fire and explosion aboard HMM Namu on May 4th, 2026. Iran are still not admitting to an attack on the ship. The Koreans have confirmed no exterior damage on the hull or superstructure, which would be indicative of something external hitting it.
At the time of the incident, she was anchored off Umm Al Quwain (she still is, see attached image the port can be seen near the bottom of the image). There were several other ships around her and crews aboard those ships have said that they heard an explosion. The Koreans are putting forward a new potential cause, that of drifting mines and the damage done to the ship's engineroom and subsequent fire was possibly a result of a shock wave from a mine. The Iranians have been quite open in regard to their mines and that they don't know where they might be. The Koreans are not accepting that the damage and fire were due to a fault onboard the ship. The mystery of how the explosion happened followed by a fire which has left the ship completely powerless rumbles on. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4052a356df.png Mystery Deepens Over Explosion and Fire on HMM Vessel as Iran Denies Attack (Maritime Executive - May 7, 2026) The worrying thing about the mines explanation for what happened is that there is a significant distance from the area that the Iranians specified was mined when they initially launched their toll booth re-route and where HMM Namu was anchored at the time of the explosion. On the image below...the supposed danger area that was mined is literally on the tip of the Khasab Peninsular tween Khasab and Larak. Umm al Quwain is at the bottom left corner of the image below, a very long distance from the supposedly mined area of the Strait of Hormuz and if mines have drifted down the coast of the UAE it would have devastating consequences for all of the ships on the Ras-al-Khaimah, Umm al Quwain, Al Hamriya, Sharjah, Dubai and Jebel Ali anchorages https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3d553ed643.png Hopefully the Iranians can find out where their mines are before another ship experiences being hit with one......and hopefully the HMM Namu's owners can finally find the actual cause of the explosion and fire once she is towed to Dubai drydocks for repairs. There are a few mysteries to solve and, as always, many lives are at risk....along with the environmental impact. |
New information has come out of an Iranian tanker, Hasna, having its rudder "shot out" by and F/A-18 from the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 6, 2026. The ship is under sanction by the US, was given several warnings to stop or turn around which it failed to comply with. As a result the aircraft was launched from the carrier and its 20mm cannon was used to hit the rudder...the ship was in ballast, thus the top half of her rudder was out of the water at the time.
U.S. Navy Fighter Shoots Out the Rudder of an Iranian Tanker (Marine Executive - May 6, 2026) Hasna is currently off Al Widayyat in Oman. No report of casualties is available. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....244e996ab3.png |
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