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| Arabia |
| Showdown looms as Iran ship nears Yemeni waters |
| 2015-05-18 |
| [ArabNews] An Iranian cargo ship carrying aid and activists crossed into the Gulf of Aden on Sunday and will reach Yemen’s Hodaida port on May 21, Iranian media reported, in a challenge to coalition naval forces controlling Yemeni waters. A coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia has imposed searches on all ships trying to enter Yemen in a bid to prevent weapons being smuggled to the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group which controls much of the country, including Hodaida. Iranian officials last week said they would not allow the coalition forces to inspect the Iran Shahed, which is under military escort, and warned of war if the cargo ship was attacked. “After entering the Gulf of Aden today... we expect to be in the confines of Hodaida port early on May 21,” the Iran Shahed’s captain, Massoud Ghazi Mirsaid, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. Iran says the ship is carrying food aid, medical volunteers and seven Western activists, one of whom was identified by the Tasnim news agency as Caleb Maupin, a native of Ohio who has campaigned against war and the US financial system. The presence of foreign activists has previously complicated plans to intercept ships carrying them. Maupin also criticized a plea from his native United States that Iran redirect the ship to Djibouti, where the United Nations is coordinating relief efforts. Reuters ship tracking data showed the Iran Shahed located off the coast of eastern Yemen at 1110 GMT, heading west toward the Bab El-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping routes. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 Iran + econ need time to modernize - either Iran allows the US or US-Allies to invade Iran, or in altern it fights the US or US Allies in "active-defense" desert war throughout the Gulf + ME deserts. IRAN = VIETNAM WAR = PRIORITY IS FOR IRAN TO DEFEAT THE POLITICAL WILL OF THE US, US GOVT + PEOPLE, NOT THE US MILITARY, IN PROTRACTIVE CONFLICT = "LONG WAR". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-18 22:44 |
| #5 I agree wid #2, IRAN at present will not prevail or win agz the USN in a war at sea in the Gulf. As a traditional land power, albeit wid an aggressive navy, IMO Iran's modus in the NT would be to fight the US or US-Allies on land, i.e. Gulf States, Arabian Peninsula, + Iraq, NOT at sea. POTUS OBAMA + ALIGNED ANTI-US OWG GLOBALISTS, ETAL. MAY WANT IRAN TO BE A "US-STYLE" CO-SUPERPOWER IN LEAD OF ONE OR MORE REGIONAL OWG "UNION(S)", BUT IRAN'S ECON + MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS PRESENTLY STILL TOO SMALL + WEAK TO WIN AGZ THE US NAVY-DOD IN 1980'S STYLE GULF COMBAT. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-18 22:38 |
| #4 Shades of the MV Ibn Kahldoon... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-05-18 15:07 |
| #3 Caleb Maupin, of the WWP. Even his photo screams "Punch me-I'm a complete douchebag" |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2015-05-18 14:49 |
| #2 I'm thinking Iran may well have been outplayed in the long game by the Gulf arabs. Saudi and the UAE can export most of their oil via pipelines that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. While Iran can't. If this becomes a sinking ships in the Gulf contest, Iran loses. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2015-05-18 10:47 |
| #1 sink it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-05-18 10:23 |