Re: Iran-US crisis
 

That assumes that you're dealing with people that are even remotely sane.

Re: Iran-US crisis
 

We have to - he’s an ally... ;)

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Navy Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Now it's not the US involved..How did Trump manage that?

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Navy Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Not directly, Maggie, but this is all to do with US sanctions on Iran.

The consequences of this may be beyond Trump's capacity to fathom.

Unless his public persona is all an act.

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Navy Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Nothing to do with the US.

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Send in the SBS.

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Not sure what the Shaky Boat Service can do, unless the mission is to sink it in port... :D

Once the ship is in Iranian waters there can only be a diplomatic solution. The military questions are, how did this happen, and how do we stop it happening again?

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

This might also increase the urgency of the point you raised the other day Chris, i.e we need a bigger boat(s)

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

However many ships we have, they can never be everywhere. It takes time to reach a particular location. Eg Over a week from Gibraltar to Strait of Hormuz via Suez Canal.

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Iran knows it can never win a game of battleships in the Gulf. It has been working instead on swarm tactics that can overwhelm a large naval vessel’s defences. You see a small example of it in these reports of the Stena bulk carrier being escorted by no fewer than 10 speedboats into Iranian waters. Those same tactics, which mandate the owning of a large number of small, fast craft, enables Iran to go after just about any cargo vessel it chooses, in the absence of a close-by naval vessel, wherever in the Gulf it happens to be.

If we were going to effectively police the Strait of Hormuz we would need numbers, not size. HMS Duncan is a formidable air defence destroyer but she’s designed to protect an area of operations from incoming fast jets by shooting them down at long range. That ability is no use here. HMS Montrose saw off a similar Iranian gambit the other week by being in close proximity and pointing her deck gun at the Iranians. Clearly Iran doesn’t want a shooting war it can’t win, so it backed off. Duncan would be able to do the same if it was in the right place at the right time, but it’s just one ship and clearly no naval vessel was in the right place at the right time to intervene here.

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Random thoughts:

Are there only British (UK) ships in that area, or are EU ones also present?

Is the British tanker seized crewed by a solely British crew, or a crew of mixed nationalities?

As the Iranian tanker that initiated this situation was 'stopped' due to suspected breaking of an EU embargo, have there been any comments/actions on these developments by the EU themselves?

How long before we start seeing Iranian TV using videos of the captured crew to escalate the 'feeding frenzy'?

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

The crew aren't British so I suspect their propaganda value is limited

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Just seen . . apparently Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino crew.

one question (or possibly two) answered anyway, can't see those Countries kicking up much of a fuss ;)

Re: Iran Tension Escalates as Iran Seizes British Vessels In Strait of Homuz
 

Who said otherwise. What was said in case you read it wrong is the crew won't have to put up with being used in a propoganda circus