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That's an interesting choice by the Rebels.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebel movement in Yemen claimed to have carried out a successful missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s main west coast oil terminal in Jeddah today. === The attack comes in the middle of an escalation in Yemen’s civil war following pressure from the Biden administration on Saudi Arabia to pull back from its support of the recognised government. The administration refused to comment on reports overnight that the new US envoy to Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, had met Houthi representatives in Oman, which has often played a role in mediating crises in the Gulf. However, the Houthis have seized the opportunity provided by the new pressure on Saudi Arabia to launch attacks both on the kingdom and on government lines inside Yemen...Riyadh reported overnight that its defence systems had intercepted two drones and a missile fired at points in southwest Saudi Arabia. Not seeing how more missile attacks into Saudi fits with American 'pressure' although, on their own, the old threat of "If you don't leave there's more of the same" is a very clear message from the rebels. (Which needs no American input to get across). Not sure how much leverage the US has at this point. (IIRC, numerous opinions on 'don't sell the Saudis weapons' is a form of leverage, but since the Saudis also oppose Iran, with whom America is still at odds, that doesn't seem to be a very tunable dial on the relations scale). However, Iran has so far rejected an offer of talks over the nuclear deal, insisting that Biden must rejoin it unconditionally. In Yemen the Saudi-backed government fears that rather than making peace in response to US overtures, the Houthis will seize the military advantage, leading to a division into two of the country. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fcb943bb16.png Interesting parallels, though the politics are a bit different. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0d47492f42.png Granted, a few of the players have changed in the mean time. |
Report in The Times.
Israel ‘secretly attacked Iranian oil tankers and weapons carriers’ Israel has carried out a series of clandestine strikes on Iranian oil tankers and ships carrying weapons, according to revelations from Washington that cast fresh light on a series of naval incidents in recent years. At least a dozen vessels, mostly carrying Iranian oil to Syria and mainly hit by mines, have been damaged in Israeli attacks since late 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and other officials. The attacks, three in 2019, six last year and three more this year, took place in the Red Sea and Mediterranean, and possibly elsewhere. They were part of Israel’s military campaign against the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian paramilitary organisation that oversees oil exports and supplies numerous militias throughout the Middle East. However, they were undisclosed despite the chorus of condemnation that met similar attacks blamed on Iran that hit western shipping and, most recently, an Israeli oil car transport vessel over a similar period. Although there is no confirmed connection, the revelations will also be linked by Israel’s critics to the oil spill that has devastated the Israeli and Lebanese coastline in the past few weeks. Click the link for remainder of article. |
Originally Posted by Lyneham Lad
(Post 11007276)
Report in The Times.
Click the link for remainder of article. |
"Granted, a few of the players have changed in the mean time"
At the top maybe but its all rooted in internal Yemeini divisions - in many ways its like Afghanistan - everyone's loyalty is pretty much only to family and clan - after that they have problems with everyone. The REAL trouble starts when outsiders start to meddle - at which point THEY become the enemy and it never, ever, ends well |
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/s...ther-gj30j9kwf
Death of two Iranian generals fuels fears over Israel Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, already reeling from claims of infiltration by Israel, has suffered a blow with the deaths of two senior officers announced in the space of three days. One was said to have died of heart disease, and the other coronavirus, but the timing has led to rumours they may have been killed or injured in action. Brigadier General Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi, 65, who was the deputy head of the Quds Force, the Guard’s overseas arm, was at first said to have died of heart disease. The authorities later clarified that his condition was aggravated by the effects of chemical weapons poisoning in his youth during the war with Iraq war in the 1980s, and that he had suffered coronavirus some months ago but recovered..... Reports of the death of Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Haghbin on Tuesday were even more contradictory. State media said he had died of coronavirus, but a news agency released a photograph of him in hospital in which, while he was wearing breathing apparatus, he was sitting up with both legs heavily bandaged. The photograph was later substituted for one in which his legs were not visible. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6ef56dc88.jpeg There were claims in Saudi media that he had in fact been wounded while fighting with the Houthis, the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen. Sources inside Iran said both men had been injured in Syria, possibly in an Israeli air strike on a Iran-linked military site near Damascus two weeks ago. The photograph of Haghbin would suggest that he was making a recovery, but perhaps caught coronavirus in hospital. Iran is experiencing a fourth wave of coronavirus, with hundreds of people dying every day....... |
A touch more tension in the Gulf. Article in The Times.
US warship fires warning as Iranians approach in Gulf A US warship fired warning shots after three Iranian vessels came within about 200ft of it in the Gulf, the American military said. Three fast inshore attack craft from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) harassed the USS Firebolt, a patrol ship, and the coast guard cutter Baranof, according to a US statement. The incident, which took place on Monday in international waters, is the second time that ships from the IRGC navy have targeted US ships in the Gulf this month and occurred as US-led talks in Vienna to revive the Iranian nuclear deal, which President Trump tore up in 2018, gather momentum. Although such incidents are not uncommon, there have been few encounters in the past year. Military officials said that such acts were usually carried out by local commanders, and were not directed by senior officials. When the Iranian vessels approached the American ship, US crews issued warnings using bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices. When they came within 204ft, “the crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots” and the vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US ship, the US military said. The head of US forces in the Middle East said that the American military wanted to ensure that such incidents did not turn into a cycle of provocation. Tensions between the US and Iran were heightened during Trump’s presidency but President Biden has expressed a desire to re-engage. Last week US and Iranian officials said progress had been made in talks about rejoining the nuclear deal, which is designed to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. It also follows leaked audio of Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, criticising the IRGC. While offering to rejoin the agreement in February, Biden stressed the need to reduce “Iran’s destabilising activities across the Middle East”. |
Lyneham Lad,
You can add to that the Iranian tanker attacked with a drone just off Syria a couple of days ago and the report in today’s press of the Saudi’s destroying a armed drone launch near one of their tankers off their west coast. |
Everybody wants to "have a go", no doubt under the China/Iran/Russia sphere of influence, "let's test Biden's resolve", strategy. I don't see Iran trying it on unless someone has their back.
You want to antagonise the big dog, better have your ducks in a row. IG |
https://apnews.com/article/persian-g...bc4705c6629fcd
Iran's largest warship catches fire, sinks in Gulf of Oman TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported. The Fars and Tasnim news agencies said efforts failed to save the support warship Kharg, named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran. The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, Fars said. The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. Photos circulated on Iranian social media of sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. State TV and semiofficial news agencies referred to the 207-meter (679 foot) Kharg as a “training ship.” Fars published video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning. Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Kharg off to the west of Jask on Tuesday. Satellites from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that track fires from space detected a blaze at the site of the Jask that started just before the time of the fire reported by Fars. The Kharg serves as one of a few vessels in the Iranian navy capable of providing replenishment at sea for its other ships. It also can lift heavy cargo and serve as a launch point for helicopters….. Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg….. In April, an Iranian ship called the MV Saviz believed to be a Guard base and anchored for years in the Red Sea off Yemen was targeted in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel. It escalated a yearslong shadow war in Mideast waters between the two countries.…. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....dc3dd76c4.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....83e796e9d.jpeg |
A fire at sea can ruin your whole day.
Took at look at the wiki page dedicated to this ship, built in the UK; Iran got good service from her, and she certainly made their blue water capability real. Through the Suez Canal and such. Did any of you ever observe them doing VERTREP? |
Last steam powered ship built on the Tyne and last ship launched from the old Walker yard as well IIRC.
They'll struggle to get another ship to replace her. |
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/p...iran-mhcvdg3pg
Putin tests Biden before Geneva summit with gift of spy satellite to Iran Russia is to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will allow it to spy on military targets across the Middle East, in a move seen as a provocation before President Biden’s showdown with President Putin next week. The Kanopus-V satellite will give Iran the ability to monitor Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases and even Iraqi barracks that house US troops, US and Middle East officials told The Washington Post. News of the development will complicate Biden’s efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement — ended by President Trump — amid domestic criticism from Republicans. His administration has already lifted sanctions on three former Iranian officials and several companies involved in oil and gas shipping, with talks on the nuclear deal due to resume in Vienna tomorrow. The State Department insisted the change was a routine matter and not, as some diplomats believe, a sweetener….. The officials who told The Washington Post about the Kanopus-V deal said that Iranian military officials were “heavily involved in the acquisition, and leaders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to help negotiate the terms of the agreement”. Russian experts are said to have travelled to Iran in the spring to help train ground crews that would operate the satellite from a new facility near the northern city of Karaj, perhaps as early as this summer.… |
Originally Posted by Imagegear
(Post 11035251)
Everybody wants to "have a go", no doubt under the China/Iran/Russia sphere of influence, "let's test Biden's resolve", strategy. I don't see Iran trying it on unless someone has their back.
You want to antagonise the big dog, better have your ducks in a row. IG You do understand there has been a change of management within the "big dog" you mention. It is not one conducive to generating a reluctance to pull that big dog's tail by smaller dogs. |
Originally Posted by ORAC
(Post 11060737)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/p...iran-mhcvdg3pg
Putin tests Biden before Geneva summit with gift of spy satellite to Iran Russia is to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will allow it to spy on military targets across the Middle East, in a move seen as a provocation before President Biden’s showdown with President Putin next week. The Kanopus-V satellite will give Iran the ability to monitor Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases and even Iraqi barracks that house US troops, US and Middle East officials told The Washington Post. News of the development will complicate Biden’s efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement — ended by President Trump — amid domestic criticism from Republicans. His administration has already lifted sanctions on three former Iranian officials and several companies involved in oil and gas shipping, with talks on the nuclear deal due to resume in Vienna tomorrow. The State Department insisted the change was a routine matter and not, as some diplomats believe, a sweetener….. The officials who told The Washington Post about the Kanopus-V deal said that Iranian military officials were “heavily involved in the acquisition, and leaders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to help negotiate the terms of the agreement”. Russian experts are said to have travelled to Iran in the spring to help train ground crews that would operate the satellite from a new facility near the northern city of Karaj, perhaps as early as this summer.… Imho, just another example of us shooting ourselves in the foot. Would we really be happier if Iran bought Chinese surveillance satellite services? |
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...-weapon-496801
Biden declares Iran will never get a nuclear weapon ‘on my watch’ President Joe Biden on Monday declared that Iran would “never get a nuclear weapon on my watch,” after affirming an “iron-clad” relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Biden’s comments, in an Oval Office meeting with Israel’s outgoing president, Reuven Rivlin, came after the U.S. launched airstrikes against Iranian-linked facilities on the Iraq-Syria border on Sunday evening. Biden said he launched the strikes under the authority of Article II of the Constitution. He also said the U.S. backed recent normalization deals between Israel and countries in the Middle East and Africa….. |
The real question has to be what does the Western Powers do if Iran does in fact obtain a Nuclear Weapon capability....not grandiose political jibber jabber about "not on my watch"!
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Just wondering, considering recent history……
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c...away-jl96m2976 Cargo ship fireball in Dubai port seen 30 miles away An explosion on board a cargo ship moored at Dubai’s main port sent a fireball high in the air that rattled windows and could be seen for miles around last night. There was no immediate explanation for what caused the blast and subsequent fire, which left debris burning across the harbour side. Witnesses said that they saw an explosion “like the sun”, before a huge boom rang out. The Dubai authorities said a container on board a small cargo ship had exploded as it came in to moor, playing down initial reports that an oil tanker had gone up in flames. They said no one had died or been injured, a remarkable outcome given the scale of the explosion, which could be seen from Dubai airport 30 miles away. The blast, at the city’s Jebel Ali port, the largest in the Middle East, comes at a sensitive time in the Middle East. Israel and Iran have been involved in a covert tit-for-tat exchange of attacks on each other’s shipping activities, while the United States and Iran-backed militias have been striking each other in Iraq and Syria. The United Arab Emirates, the federal state of which Dubai is the second biggest individual entity, is a key US ally and Iran has occasionally threatened to strike western targets there. However, there have been attempts at rapprochement recently and an attack on a ship in harbour would be unprecedented. The blast happened without warning shortly before midnight local time, sending shock-waves that rippled through apartment buildings in the southern suburbs of Dubai, which stretches in a line along the coast from the city centre and airport towards Jebel Ali. Nevertheless, the crew were said to have already been evacuated safely. The Dubai government’s media office released footage of a fire service ship blasting water at the blazing vessel, and said the fire had been brought under control by early Thursday morning…… . “The Jebel Ali fire is under full control and the area is now being cooled off,” Major General Rashid Thani al-Matrooshi, the head of Dubai’s civil defence, said. Port officials insisted that the blast was caused by a “normal accident” and was not suspicious. They said services were unaffected and vessels could continue to sail. There was no immediate word from the Pentagon, which regularly has warships docked in a separate part of the port.….. |
It might be interesting if they release the harbour security camera footage closer in , more interesting if they don’t .
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"It might be interesting if they release the harbour security camera footage closer in , more interesting if they don’t ."
In Dubai? A place that depends on its image as safe, home form home?? A place that deals with Iran, the USA and anyone who has a dollar to spend??? Worse than Las Vegas I think we'll have a long wait |
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