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

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Hugh

No, it isn’t - it’s time to ascertain what’s happening, and try not to escalate things.

"To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war"

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

Originally Posted by nomadking

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

We have to - he’s an ally...

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

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

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

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.

[nomadking]

Tensions between the UK and Iran flared up earlier this month when Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker which was suspected of breaking EU sanctions.
The UK suspected Grace 1, detained on 4 July near Gibraltar, was carrying oil bound for Syria.
In response to the seizure, Iran threatened to seize a British oil tanker.

Nothing to do with the US.

[Pierre]

Send in the SBS.

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

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?

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

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Damien

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

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.

Originally Posted by Damien

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

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.

[Carth]

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'?

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Carth

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'?

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

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

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

... under our flag, on our territory so to speak and in need of our protection.

[Carth]

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

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

... under our flag, on our territory so to speak and in need of our protection.

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