An Iranian naval destroyer, the Alborz, has passed through the Bab el-Mandab Strait and entered the Red Sea amid soaring tensions in the waters, Iranian media reported on Monday.
The news came after US Navy helicopters sank three boats belonging to Yemen’s Houthis, killing 10 Houthi personnel, and amid reports that the US and UK are considering bombing Yemen.
The US has launched a naval task force in the Red Sea in response to Houthi attacks on Israel-linked commercial shipping in the waters that are being done in protest of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza. The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have vowed they won’t back down in the face of the US military pressure.
Iran has denied claims from the US that it’s “deeply involved” in the attacks on Israel-linked commercial shipping but has praised the Houthi efforts. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with a Houthi spokesman in Tehran on Monday.
According to Iran’s PressTV, Amir-Abdollahian hailed the “firm stance of Yemen’s Ansar Allah in support of the oppressed Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli regime’s crimes and aggression.”
The situation in the Red Sea is just one area in the region where Israel’s onslaught in Gaza is spilling out. US forces in Iraq and Syria continue to come under frequent rocket attacks, and Israel has been ramping up airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
At least some Israelis are trying to stop the tit-for-tat escalations. These are the true Hero’s of Our Time. hundreds of young Israelis have refused military service
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/12/29/ynol-d29.html
They will be put in jail and have a record the rest of their lives. I wish them well.
Mandela was also put in jail…
They’re either those who realize that this didn’t start on Oct 7 but instead been ongoing for 75+ years or they’re too cosy living in another man’s land and are afraid to die.
Without the bomb, I believe that Iran has been preparing for the inevitable attacks by Israel and it henchman, the U.S. For a long time.
Iran is very close to nukes, if it does not already possess them Iran’s statements and goals are very clear-to destroy Israel-a country with which it shares no borders
It’s an Irony that even the Iranian people dont get.
DJ,
You seem to be discounting the feelings of people. I am more than certain that Iranians share the very same fears and concerns, the rest of us do. You should not generalize in such a way…
Israel has no declared borders, that’s what worries the region.
Israel accepted the borders in UNR 181 as a condition of UN membership. Those remain its only “declared” borders.
Well, in that case – REVOKE them!… Utterly.
The peace agreement between Egypt and Israel established the border between the two countries.
And they’re reneging on that one too, just like UNR 181.
That “that death to Israel and America” chant has been begging for an ass kick for a long time.
Im sure they are highly well equipped with alll those Russian made weapons they purchased 🤣
They are referring to Israel the colony and America the Empire… A sentiment this Republican shares!…. 🇺🇸❤️🇮🇷
It is they other way around. Iran sells weapons to Russia.
Are they telling us they can’t track small fast boats, trucks and launch platforms ?
Like they couldn’t spot and attack the ISIS Toyota Convoys?
This particular ship is ancient, according to Wikipedia. Its only significant weapons are a couple torpedo tubes – not sure what their range is or if Iran has modern torpedos – and the capability to fire eight Noor reverse-engineered Chinese C-802 antiship cruise missiles. The latter have ranges from 70km to 200km, depending on version. The Houthis also have this missile and have mostly unsuccessfully used them against US ships in the past during the Saudi-Yemen war.
In other words, it’s unlikely this ship could survive an attack by US Navy vessels. So it’s there primarily as an Iranian statement of support to the Houthis and of opposition against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
The ship would have no chance against the US Navy. The captain of that ship could not be that stupid to fire on shipping in the Red Sea. His ship would be at bottom of the sea in hours. Of course, we just saw motor boats fire small arms at US Navy helicopters, so stupidity does exists.
Depending on circumstances, eight Noor antiship missiles could drop at least one US Navy vessel, presuming they’re accurate and at least one gets by the available air defense. The Iranian ship wouldn’t survive, either, from counterattack by other US Navy forces. But that wouldn’t be fun for the US Navy.
The interesting possibility, however, is that the Iranian ship provides SIGINT intelligence data to the Houthis enabling them to implement an effective targeting and firing solution for their antiship missiles. I can easily see this being done. It allows Iran to say they’re not involved while being a force multiplier for the Houthis.
If the US then attacks the Iran ship simply for being present in the area after a successful Houthi attack on a US ship, then Iran will be drawn into the war. Which is what the neocons want. So it’s a risky move for Iran to send that ship to the Red Sea.
OTOH, it’s the same “freedom of navigation” rule that the US always claims when it sends US warships through the Straits of Taiwan. Unless the US can prove the Iranian ship was providing intel to the Houthis, the US will be blamed for unilaterally attacking Iran. The neocons don’t care, but Biden will see his election chances – slim as they are now – sink to zero. But the neocons don’t care about him, either.
And then the US will lose the war with Iran, as it did every other war it’s waged over the last two decades. And the economic damage of that war will sink the US economy into Depression 2.0.
1. Unless the eight missiles were fired at point blank range they will be shot down. Of course there is always a possibility of a lucky shot.
2. In the battle of electronic warfare, I will take the US Navy over Iran.
How funny if they get in a “friendly “ fire incident with the houthis. 🤣
If that happen, the US would get blamed.
Knowing how Israel is frothing at the mouth for war between Washington and Iran, is Iran daring them to start it? Anyway, really hard to see how this scenario cannot lead to war.
“Anyway, really hard to see how this scenario cannot lead to war.” I agree. Hard to see how ethnic cleansing and genociding 2.2 million Palestinians cannot lead to war either. In fact, it’s becoming hard to see how all of the Biden’s scenarios combined cannot lead to WWIII either.
It will be a regional war…!
Amen.
Here’s another perspective that’s entirely possible…
“Because if the Straussian neo-cons in the Beltway get really unhinged by the paradigm shift and act in desperation to ‘teach a lesson’ to Iran, a chokepoint Hormuz-Bab al-Mandeb combo blockade might skyrocket the price of oil to at least $500 a barrel, triggering the implosion of the $618 trillion derivatives market and crashing the entire international banking system.” – Pepe Escobar
Yes, interesting to think about, … a financial nuke? … turn the tables on the Neocon Lords of the Earth? … return the nations to the 19 cent., inventing each her own currency, …solve global warming //
“”a chokepoint Hormuz-Bab al-Mandeb combo blockade might skyrocket the price of oil to at least $500 a barrel””
well that would certainly suit Big-Oil’s purposes.
meanwhile more oil is exported from the US every day than is imported into the US. if we really needed more oil here in the US then maybe stop exporting it.
oh wait, that would NOT suit Big-Oil’s purposes, would it.
Big Oil would suffer. When the economy collapses, there will be less purchases by orders of magnitude. Costs of everything would hit the roof.
But MiCs and their warmongers are grinning ear to ear.
so is Big-Oil
Big-Oil will never suffer.
want to know Big-Oil’s secret?
the price of gasoline in Iran is 36 cents per gallon.
Iran has the right to sail their boats in international waters. This is no big deal.