An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander threatened to seize a British ship in retaliation for the Royal Marines capture of an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar.
“If Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities’ duty to seize a British oil tanker,” IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai tweeted on Friday.
The British Royal Marines seized the ship on Thursday, accusing it of being bound for Syria, U.S. and EU sanctions are in place to prevent oil sales to the country. The sanctions caused dire fuel shortages in the winter, forcing the government to ration fuel and ordinary Syrian’s struggled to heat their homes.
A senior Iranian official condemned the seizure and “called for the immediate release of the oil tanker, given that it has been seized at the request of the US, based on the information currently available,” in a statement released by the Iranian foreign ministry Friday.
The Spanish Foreign Minister also said the British seized the ship on behalf of the U.S., no U.S. officials have admitted to giving the order but National Security Advisor John Bolton celebrated the seizure on Thursday in a tweet.
“Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions. America & our allies will continue to prevent regimes in Tehran & Damascus from profiting off this illicit trade,” Bolton wrote on Twitter.
The government of the British territory of Gibraltar said they received orders Friday to hold the tanker for another 14 days, “The Supreme Court has issued today’s order on the basis that there are reasonable grounds to consider that the detention of the Grace 1 is required for the purposes of compliance with the EU Regulation 36/2012 on sanctions on Syria.”
Who in the US ordered the seizure? Bolton? Was the president in the loop, or was this an all-Bolton maneuver to force Trump into a war with Iran?
Meanwhile, who believes that the drone that was shot down was not intentionally flown into Iranian airspace as a provocation? Or that the manned aircraft that accompanied the drone was a sacrificial lamb of US servicemen sent to possibly — hopefully? — be shot down as well, an event that would guarantee that Bolton and the Neocons/Israelis would get their long sought war against Iran?
The Russians say they have proof that the two planes were in Iranian airspace. I believe them.
If the president wasn’t in the loop it’s on him. Everything is on him. Stop trying to deflect the blame.
Did you hear his excuses for Afghanistan last night? He sounds like George W. Bush, even on 9/11. Amazing the transition. MK Ultra?
I missed that. I was still bent over from laughter after reading about “airports” in the 18th century.
This is piracy and no different to the actions of Somalian pirates.
The only difference is that Somalian pirates are honest about being pirates.
As I suggested earlier, the intent of this seizure is to get the US public used to the notion that Iranian tankers can be seized by the US. This one was done under the sanctions against Syria, not Iran. But the US public won’t understand the difference. Also, the tanker was seized in the Med, not the Persian Gulf or near Iran.
The next step will be to seize an Iranian tanker near the Persian Gulf – perhaps in the Arabian sea or the Gulf of Oman. Then they will blockade Iranian tankers coming out of the Persian Gulf. In essence, the US Navy will be tasked to close the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to Iranian tankers.
This will be a formal blockade of Iran – which is an act of war. Iran will have no choice but to respond militarily – and the war will be on. Iran will close the Straits of Hormuz to all shipping at that point. The US Navy will respond, the Iranians will shoot at US ships, and off we go.
Trump is probably too stupid and ignorant to understand that his goal of stopping all shipments of Iranian oil can’t be accomplished by just threatening other nations, so he will be easy to convince that he needs to use the US Navy to blockade Iran. Whether he understands that this will start a war – and whether he cares – is unclear.
He’s right. However, Iran need not even make a seizure for the threat to affect insurance rates and charter fees for tankers, especially but not only British tankers.
In the old days, Western governments licensed “reprisal” for such things.
A bully is usually stupid and does not realize that many cunning adversaries will soon outsmart him, and then defeat him.
the US and the UK have been the world’s consummate bullies, colonialists and imperialists for centuries now. Their time is up.
“Nations and empires flourish and decay, By turns command, and in their turns obey.” – Ovid
Why doesn’t Iran just blow up Israel and get this whole thing over already!?!?