Iran claims to have seized British oil tanker in strait of Hormuz

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claim to have seized a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, which suddenly veered off course and headed into Iranian waters.

The ship’s owners issued a statement saying it had been “approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters.”
...
The UK ministry of defence said it was urgently looking into what had happened to the Stena Impero, a 30,000 tonne British-flagged ship, which was heading for Saudi Arabia when it abruptly left the international sea lanes through the strait of Hormuz and tracking data showed it heading north towards the Iranian island of Qeshm, where the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has a substantial base.
...
The incident came on a day when the authorities in Gibraltar announced they were extending the detention of an Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, seized by Britain’s Royal Marines, on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria, in violation of an EU embargo. Iran has denounced the seizure of as an act of “piracy”.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/british-tanker-iran-capture-fears-stena-impero-uk-ship-latest

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Stena is a large, family-owned Swedish shipping group (major ferry operator in Europe): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stena_Sphere

[Applegate]

1. War gets closer with every tit for tat move.

We and Europe and Russia had a deal with Iran. Trump blew it up.

[cstanleytech]

2. "Trump blew it up." Granted however if Iran did this they only helping him in trying to justify

his cry for military intervention.

[groundloop]

4. I imagine tRump (or at least Bolton) knew that blowing up our agreement would lead to this

I get the distinct impression that tRump WANTS a war with Iran, and of course we all know that Bolton certainly does.

[cstanleytech]

5. OH its 100% clear Trump wants a war and he probably thinks it will do for him what it did for Bush.

[Applegate]

7. Iran is not going to just roll over and die as Trump tries to destroy their economy.

The Europeans need to get that trading mechanism up and running to break Trump's sanctions. Otherwise, Iran will shortly be out of the nuclear treaty and we'll be that much closer to war.

And war with Iran will be really messy. It could ignite the whole Middle East.

[cstanleytech]

8. "It could ignite the whole Middle East." If you mean destabilize the region more

then I agree.

[Igel]

10. In this case, though, it's a British tanker.

The Brits recent humiliation of the Iranians was either (a) not opposing Trump to the extent that the Iranians demanded, thus not being properly obeisant; or, (b) seizing an Iranian tanker that was shipping oil to Syria in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.

I don't think of (a) as justification, unless we should all welcome our new Iranian overlords.

I find (b) to be moderately offensive, because it means the UN really should cut Iran some slack as it supports a fellow dictator and ignores the UN.

Which of those is something progressives should get behind is a bit of a mystery to me.


However, I have to wonder if instead of some random malfunction (or possibly drunken navigator) the pilot was somehow cajoled or convinced to divert the ship or, given Iran's coziness with Putin, whether that nice GPS-jamming tech that Putin uses wasn't employed a bit more in the furtherance of anti-Western goals.


Than the Iranians are still seeking a restoration of their natural pride and dignity from what happened with the Brits 60+ years ago--something that still hurts in the lived experience of even newborns, it seems--I don't think is a valid excuse for most contemporary acts. Except to the extent that saying constantly things like "Death to _______" might eventually actually lead to violence.

[LittleGirl]

6. This is Trump's Fault

Every single reason points back to IQ45 and his big freaking mouth!
F*ck

[milestogo]

9. I fear that this could turn into something very serious.

The Strait of Hormuz plays a huge role in transporting oil.

[yaesu]

11. war should be good for another 10k on the DOW, those banksters love a good war. nt

[EX500rider]

12. Iran's playing a dangerous game if they try to close the straights...pissing of China, bad idea.

Currently only about five percent of oil passing through the straits is for American customers. Most of the oil leaving the Persian Gulf heads east where four customers (China, India, South Korea and Japan) account for 60 percent of it. The smaller Asian customers, combined, get more than the Americans do. China and India have long been key customers and generally willing to help Iran out. That goodwill is greatly diminished if Iran makes a serious effort to close the straits.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. I'll bet Bolton is giddy right now

[Harker]

14. He's putting plenty of pressure

on his Haggars.

[herding cats]

15. Oh, fucking great. Little Orange Anus figured out a war is his out for impeachment

Fuck all this shit, and especially Bolton.

I wish I hadn't read the news today. 😑

[rockfordfile]

16. No. Americans already hate trump, and We remember the lies of Iraq for oil .