...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
has escalated a yearslong shadow war in Mideast waters. The development comes just as world powers are negotiating over Tehran's tattered nuclear deal.
The assault on the MV Saviz on Tuesday appears to have caused the most-extensive damage yet in this shadow war, seemingly between Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and Israel - and one that could further escalate regional tensions. Attacks and counterattacks between the two nations could spin out of control.
Since at least 2019, there have been a series of mysterious attacks on vessels, typically with limpet mines attached by a special forces diver to a ship's hull. The attacks came at a time of mounting tensions between Iran and the United States over then-President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
's decision to unilaterally pull out of the atomic accord.
The U.S. Navy blamed a series of blasts in June 2019 in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Iran. Video after one blast showed Revolutionary Guard troops removing an unwent
kaboom!limpet mine from one targeted ship, something never fully explained by Tehran.
Who planted the first explosive in this conflict remains unclear. Iranian vessels similarly have suffered mysterious incidents at sea, with the first public case involving an Iranian oil tanker in May 2019. As time went on, Iran began acknowledging attacks on its own vessels, as recently as a kaboom onboard a fat merchantman in the Mediterranean Sea in March. There's yet to be a clear accounting of all the ships struck.
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