The US military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine, since Saturday, Brad Cooper, the commander of the US Central Command, said late on Tuesday. “Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman,” he said in a video statement.
Shipping through the strait of Hormuz – typically a vital artery of the world economy, with about a fifth of oil supplies and seaborne gas tankers passing through it – has largely ground to a halt.
Iran has land based antiship missles. Quite how good they are, well. Would beat an unescorted tanker, fer sure. Often enough anyway. Get through an Aegis system? Almost certainly not.
But hanging about seems sensible enough….
Stooging about waiting for the Yanks and Yids to destroy the antiship missiles and launchers before transiting the Strait strikes me as a sensible tactic. It won’t be long now.
They could capture a Russian one and send it through as a decoy.
Yeah, they need to send some decoys thru the Strait to find out where the launchers are.
Quite. Pres. Trump said on Truth Social the other day that the US will be offering insurance at reasonable rates for all shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, effective immediately. And US Navy ships will be available to accompany ships “as soon as possible.”
Straits being closed doesn’t bother the US – they are self sufficient
It does bother the Iranians – no illegal oil sales (havent thought this through have they?)
It will bother Western Europe, especially the UK where shit for brains Milliband has closed down the north sea in favour of solar panels and windmills provided by Labour’s best friends in China
Why is no-one in the UK capabale of strategic thinking?
I’m mildly surprised that the opportunity to rain hell on the Houthis and their armaments hasn’t been seized.
Limited resources. If the current adventure is successful and the Houthis no longer have a patron and sponsor, it may not be necessary. The Houthis are currently playing the dog that didn’t bark.
Meanwhile in the Med Admiral Cunningham is turning in his grave. Well, he was buried at sea, but the shame of the RN this week..
Aye, it’s a bit like the US wisdom that “If you need the cops in minutes they’ll be there in hours.” Now the RN will be there in weeks. The shame of it!
Well…
How fortunate that one can get AI to make an image like this, and not have to spend hours comping it together in Photoshop. I can’t imagine many would have the stomach to sit looking a that for as long as it takes.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Can I have some bleach for my eyes now?
Bullshit. There IS Iranian commercial traffic in all.
Iran declares it will attack ANY commercial shipping in the Strait. Why aren’t we blasting its commercial shipping ?!?!