In his first response to last week’s Navy claims of “provocation” in Iran, President Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the US will destroy Iranian gunboats that “harass our ships at sea.” Attacking Iran boats would be an act of war.
Last week’s claim was that US ships engaged in a military exercise, off the Iranian coast, and Iranian boats got dangerously close to them. So now the idea is to further escalate to sinking those boats outright.
The Pentagon appears up for this new round of escalatory rhetoric, vowing that US forces will “come and we will come large” in acting against Iran. Pentagon officials said Trump’s statement was a “warning to the Iranians.”
Other former officials were critical of Trump’s threats, saying that it would be illegal to sink Iranian boats based on harassment, and suggesting that he is just trying to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump had previously suggested he was wary of attacking Iran because of the coronavirus, as he thought Iran being hit hard with the virus then being attacked by the US would lead to international criticism. That hasn’t stopped him from constant threats to Iran, however.
If anything, the US has spent 2020 being constantly on the brink of war with Iran over something or other, and while so far they have not escalated to where a war becomes totally unavoidable, officials seem to be eager to keep tensions right on the edge on a conflict.
Solly • 2 days ago
They are in decline until Trump’s next tweet.
Does this guy know his stuff or what? He’s commenting on our tensions with Iran being on the decline. Donnie didn’t let him down.
And you were probably wondering what they were REALLY up to when they released the virus and destroyed our economy. Here you go.
Best marshal a carrier battle group before taking on Iran’s bass boat navy, This is really bold.
The Don gets more unhinged. Sit back and enjoy the farce.
The IRGC dismissed the claims that the Iranian forces behaved in a dangerous manner, calling the US account of the encounter a “Hollywood tale.”
Emphasizing that Iran sees guaranteeing the security of the Persian Gulf region as part of its strategy to defend its interests at sea, the IRGC chief commander said in his Thursday remarks that “the American vessels had caused trouble for our logistics ship,” describing their behavior as “unprofessional and perilous.”
He said that the Iranian vessels were just conducting their routine patrols.
Seems to me that the only way the so called chosen people can keep from integrating with the vast majority in the “holy land” is to keep people hating and killing each other. Surender and total domination is the only option for those who resist the US war machine but we have forgotten one thing, there is a God in heaven who is keeping score and so far we have an ever expanding debt that we may never be able to pay.
“suggesting that he is just trying to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.”
Brian Kelly of CNBC’s “Fastmoney” suggested that the bloviator – in – chief was just trying to support the crude oil commodity price(which went negative earlier in the week). That support fueled the 4/22/20 mkt. rally.
In terms of who was harassing whom, did we announce military exercises in advance? This is customary even for exercises in blue water areas. If one has an exercise in green water areas near a country you are constantly threatening to attack it would be even more important to specify the time and place and parameters of the event.
Valid point.
Within 5 minutes of opening fire, those several thousand American sailors will be trying desperately to save their sinking ships and avoiding drowning. All hell might break loose afterwards, but those poor fools will not be around to see it. Hope their commanders aren’t feeling suicidal enough to follow tweeted idiotic orders.
Tell it, Castaway! Tell it!! Yep, within 5 minutes of opening fire those thousands of American sailors will be – as you rightly said – will be desperately trying to save their sinking ships and avoiding drowning, Oh, yea, hell just might break loose afterwards, but those unfortunate fools won’t be around to witness it, Better hope their commanders aren’t feeling suicidal enough to follow tweeted idiotic orders.
However, I’m sure DJT didn’t do it alone .. The Trotskyists – including Fat-face Pompass put a whole lot of pressure on him to do it.
the bottom of the strait of hormuz will be clogged with the remains of iranian speedboats and the weak kneed islamic revolutionary republican guard bodies. we will gain total control of the strait of hormuz within 20 minutes if we decide to and iran knows it.
The moral of “never cry wolf”, there are always wolves somewhere….
This should be taken as a reminder that Trump gets personal verbal briefings from Pompeo and others just like him. That is his understanding of the world. He does not read and consider, he just listens and gets pumped up.
Notice that the price of oil (after collapsing to -40 dollars) spiked back up after he tweeted out this ‘threat’. Coincidence?
The United States have never had a valid reason to treat Iran in a hostile fashion because Iran has never threatened our country. Our country created the hostility by protecting Britain’s demands for Iranian oil and forcing the democratically elected Prime Minster Mossadeq, out and replacing him with the Western appointed marionette, The Shah of Iran, who walked on the leash of the oil guzzling nations in the West. Israel saw an opportunity to increase their sphere of influence in the Middle East (the Oded Shinon plan) and took charge of the US Foreign policy through their AIPAC influence of our corrupt Congress members. The rest is history and it continues with the despicable Trump regime.