All is not smooth sailing.....as some NATO Nations are refusing to allow their Navy to participate unless their Ships are under NATO Control and not the US led Coalition.

How will that turn out should this become a genuine international commerce crisis where shipping can no longer utilize the Red Sea or Suez Canal route and have to go the long way around to get to Europe?

If Insurance Carriers terminate coverage and Shipping Companies have to avoid the area it could become a real economic cost to national economies that are already fragile.

FAFO…

The frigate IRIS Alborz of the Iranian Navy has entered the Red Sea as part of a flotilla of ships. The Iranian ships are deploying off the coast of Yemen.

Amid reports of the US and UK's readiness to begin military operations against the Houthis, the appearance of Iranian ships could be a harbinger of a serious escalation in the region.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f1a96765de.png
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Looks like a lovely New Year's decoration for the bottom of the Red Sea. :p

Not if you consider the implications. Best left floating and watched unless it fires first.

I find the Frigate deployment surprising. Iran has made a point of trying to have plausible deniability for the actions of the Houthi. They now have skin in the game in a way that is pretty unambiguous.

Dangerous times indeed…

Maybe the Houthis are getting uppity and giving Iran a bad name...(?)

Anyone got any updates on the situation with the Iranian nuke programme? Not expecting a detailed reply, you understand. I haven't read all the thread.

I always trusted that the Israeis would have the ways and means to babysit it. But they may be a tad distracted right now....

Cooch

Hopefully a Houthi missile will put a hole in the Iranian frigate.

Last I saw the Iranians were in a position were they could go nuclear in a couple of months if they want to . They seem to reckon they'll get more (such as the frozen oil cash) if they hold their hand and and DON'T proceed - for now anyway

Perhaps the Iranian frigate is there to observe and report - what and to whom would be the question. While it is international waters however, not a lot that can be done about it.

SAS and Lonewolf: With indecisive national leadership, the rules of engagement imposed on local commanders can easily snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Had some experience with that some decades ago.

An interesting question would not be "Where are the Carriers?" but rather "Where are the Attack Submarines?.

Then one might consider where are some B-52's and B-1's......or even some B-2's.

Iranian Frigates have done better as artificial reefs than as combatants as I recall.

They certainly are not going to carry the day should they decide to start the game with a kick off.....that shall not end well for them militarily.

Presence alone is sufficient to allow them to project some limited power.....actual hostilities shall only cause them to. lose the game and project no power at all.

I 'm with Ninthace - they're there to observe, check on tactics etc and the guys in Tehran can tell the Yemenis "look! we've sent a frigate!" but it won't do anything

Yes but the coalition will have to honour the threat, and it would only take one mistake on either side to start a shooting war. I don't see any way this can't be considered escalatory on Iran's part.

There are only two types of vessels at Sea . Submarines and Targets .

I have heard that from a friends son who is on Hunter Killers in UK Navy, however not sure the Red Sea is a great submarine attack area due to depth and manoeuvring space but that is just a bystander’s theoretical observation. I did know a US Navy Boomer officer who operated in the Mediterranean, and said they were always in Western Mediterranean due to depth.

Cheers
Mr Mac

Does Iran have any submarines? There is also the threat of mines should anyone be daft enough to lay some.

If it is in international waters, minding its own business, all the coalition can do is keep an eye on it. For all we know it may just be on passage from A to B. Perhaps a port visit somewhere?

Ford heading home
 

Is the frigate carrying more of those Iranian fast boats, I wonder?

"I did know a US Navy Boomer officer who operated in the Mediterranean, and said they were always in Western Mediterranean due to depth."

Thats odd - the eastern med is at least as deep as the western med - and back in November an Ohio went through the Suez Canal

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ebda0c97c1.jpg

Yeah, that's certainly going to constrain the art of the possible. And on a practical side, any engagements in the Red Sea will probably get things stirred up in the Persian Gulf.
Well, they'll do something (hopefully sink) but I'd not put it past them to launch some spec ops/fast boats for certain tasks.
Yes. Three Kilo class diesel boats (Russian origin) and a few smaller ones of local manufacture.
Yes, that's a risk, particularly as the Houthi's are raising the stakes.

The page I looked at listed two of them as "being in refit through 2023" but I am not sure how solid that information is.

the latest Seaforth World Navies only has "the navy continues its campaign of low -level harassment"

Someone is taking the piss….

Get SF to place themselves in a position where they risk death, or worse capture, in order to disable engines which can be rapidly replaced?

An AC-130 would do the same job much more effectively, or if you didn’t want to risk that, PGMs…

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/news/uk/u...tack-l9psltb5w

UK special forces could destroy Houthi boats in Red Sea

Britain and America are weighing up military options in response to attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by the *Yemen-based Houthi militia, sources have told The Times.

General David Petraeus, a former CIA director, said he had spoken to UK officials and others in Washington and that although airstrikes were possible, the West could also use more covert means to destroy the fast boats used by the Iran-backed militia.

A UK government source confirmed that there were several options, including airstrikes on targets in Yemen. *Special forces could be *deployed to disable the engines of the Houthi fast boats, or explosives used to sink them while they were in harbour.

Blasts kill 73
Twin bomb blasts near Iran general Qasem Soleimani's tomb kill 73 - state TV - BBC News

<br /><br />False flag to justify something? Or the Red Sea Pedestrians deciding they'll sort all their problems at once?

Struggling to see the logic of the latter.....

Plenty of other possibilities with a higher coefficient of credibility, surely?

Death toll now 100. Someone stirring up hate to draw the conflict wider?

I know this is the internet but do we have to reach straight for the conspiracy theory?

Why is my comment a conspiracy (It's my opinion) and what's your opinion of why this happened?

We have yours plus #750. There are other factions as suggested in the source story
Or Time

[QUOTE=Asturias56;11566102]"I did know a US Navy Boomer officer who operated in the Mediterranean, and said they were always in Western Mediterranean due to depth."

Thats odd - the eastern med is at least as deep as the western med - and back in November an Ohio went through the Suez Canal

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ebda0c97c1.jpg[/QUOTE
Asturias]
He was on Polaris, and said they operated in the Western Mediterranean. The gentleman is now dead, and his time in US Navy would be late 60;s to early 80;s when he left to work in IT, so I cannot ask any further, but he said always in the western Mediterranean and only one boat. I think also German U Boats also stayed clear of the Eastern Mediterranean to a degree, as far more sunk in the Western Mediterranean as well, but willing to be contradicted.

Cheers
Mr Mac

These are facts or opinions. These are not conspiracy theories. What's your opinion?

At least they are opinions straight in line with conspiracy theories.
No opinion yet on my side. It's a complex region...

Since no one has claimed responsibility, they are not facts, yet. The MO is inconsistent with Israel.

ORAC - I'd guess the "sources" the Times quotes are probably related to some nonentities in No10 - if you read it carefully there's no serious information in that article about what is and what is not available

LBC reports 80% of shipping traffic being diverted. Expect delays on goods like oil and food.