In a move said to be a response to the US beefing up its naval presence in the Persian Gulf, Iran has ordered some warships to head toward the Atlantic Ocean and mill about on the outskirts of the US maritime border.
The US has for years kept a large number of warships parked off the Iranian coast, aimed at bolstering the seriousness of their constant threats to attack Iran at any moment.
Yet parking warships off another nation’s coast just for the heck of it is a pretty expensive proposition, and while the US seems quite content to burn a chunk of its vast naval budget on this, it seems unlikely Iran’s ships will remain very long, as it’s simply a waste of money.
Iranian naval officials have suggested several times in the past that such a deployment was coming. Officials gave no indication of what types of ships were involved in the deployment, but said they are heading to the Atlantic by way of South Africa.
Judging by the hyperventilating hysterics posting on Yahoo! News on this issue, those few Iranian ships have managed to strike fear and terror into the very heart of America. I actually laughed out loud reading posts like"OMG what if they have nukes on board- they can hit us any time!" or "Just go ahead and blow them out of the water and teach them a lesson" or "The only good Iranian is a dead Iranian" or any number of variations on these themes. On the one hand the yayhoos think a ground invasion of Iran would be over in a matter of hours- because, after all, Iran is no match for the US… yet this tiny show of naval force- in international waters- is cause for DEFCON 60000.
Americans have proven to be, by and large, especially since 9/11 easily frightened cowards.
Americans have proven to be, by and large, especially since 9/11 easily manipulated and frightened, cowardly, misinformed blowhards.
Especially on the mouth-breather Yahoo! News. The very worst of the worst. Dummies from here to eternity.
For Iran such an exercise makes sense, considering they do appear to have a couple of new naval technologies, especially radar and electronic warfare equipment to test. Not sure which ships are sent but they did launch recently a reasonably modernized frigate which is in need for some serious breaking in. And a longer voyage remains an exercise in itself and tremendous experience for a crew. It's a "signal" all right but surely also meant to test the various electronic signals and signal detection in the wild. This way more than one bird can be killed with the same "stone". The best bird is still the question: why not echo the manoeuvres of the other to some extent? Holding up a mirror.
For Iran such an exercise makes sense, considering they do appear to have a couple of new naval technologies, especially radar and electronic warfare equipment to test. Not sure which ships are sent but they did launch recently a reasonably modernized frigate which is in need for some serious breaking in. And a longer voyage remains an exercise in itself and tremendous experience for a crew. It's a "signal" all right but surely also meant to test the various electronic signals and signal detection in the wild. This way more than one bird can be killed with the same "stone". The best bird is still the question: why not echo the manoeuvres of the other to some extent? Holding up a mirror.
It's largely symbolic on Iran's part, just a couple of frigates and a tanker, I believe. I'm guessing one of their Russian-built Kilo-class diesel submarines too, but that won't be reported publicly. Like the above poster pointed out, it will also give the Iranian Navy some experience operating in a high-seas environment. Of course, the hysterical reaction of the MSM was predictable. I'd love to see their reaction if the Chinese Navy started patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors will attempt to carry out a VSSB (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of badly damaging the Iranian frigate far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of badly damaging the Iranian frigate far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of badly damaging the Iranian frigate far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of sinking the Iranian frigate or at least badly damaging it far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of sinking the Iranian frigate or at least badly damaging it far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of sinking the Iranian frigate or at least badly damaging it far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
It will be very interesting watching the hysterical reactions of the US Navy to this. My prediction is that the FedGov sailors either will attempt to carry out a VBSS (visit, board, search, and seizure), or engineer a collision incident with the goal of sinking one of the Iranian frigates, or at least badly damaging it far from any port that would be willing to render aid.
On all the articles on this move by Iran, the "US maritime border" is not defined, nor is there a map of where those borders are. Is it the 200 mile limit? Or is it all of the Atlantic Ocean? (The whole world is a battlefield approach.)
I don't see how Iran's sending ships to waters off South Africa could be considered approaching America's maritime border. If you look at a globe, that's literally on the other side of the world from our west coast!
Its time America got a taste of its own mediciine.