Iran getting sideways with USN - is there anything more FAFO?

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

Some fucking Iranian ships tried to seize oil tankers and ended up with a guided missile destroyer on their ass. 
 

Quote

U.S. Navy says it foiled Iran’s attempt to seize oil tankers

Drone video released by the U.S. military shows purported gunfire appearing to target one of the commercial vessels

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The U.S. Navy said Wednesday that it had thwarted efforts by Iran’s military to commandeer two commercial oil tankers off Oman, and that one of the attempted seizures involved intense gunfire.

“Iranian personnel fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons” targeting a merchant ship U.S. officials identified as the Richmond Voyager, triggering a distress call around 4 a.m. local time, the Navy said in a news release. No one was hurt, officials said, but “several rounds hit the ship’s hull near crew living spaces.” The tanker is registered in the Bahamas.

Overhead, an American MQ-9 surveillance drone captured video of the Iranian warship’s encounter with the oil tanker. Footage released by the Navy shows multiple flashes popping near the Richmond Voyager — what officials described as “ricocheted rounds” above the commercial vessel.

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Additional imagery released by the Navy purports to show ammunition fragments recovered from the Richmond Voyager.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Iranian military vessel, having positioned itself within a mile of the Richmond Voyager, had ordered the commercial tanker to stop, according to the Navy’s news release. The guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul was dispatched to the area, forcing the Iranian ship to flee, the Navy said.

The incident occurred in international waters, more than 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman’s capital, as the Richmond Voyager headed toward the Arabian Sea, the Navy said.

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The McFaul responded about three hours earlier to a similar incident involving a separate Iranian military vessel that had approached a commercial oil tanker U.S. officials identified as the TRF Moss. That incident, also occurred in international waters, the Navy said. The Moss is registered in the Marshall Islands.

U.S. military officials said that, beginning in May, they had increased the frequency of naval and air patrols in the region following a rise in the number of ship seizures by Iran. The Navy’s release said that, since 2021, “Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels, presenting a clear threat to regional maritime security and the global economy.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/05/us-navy-iran-video-tankers/

[TwiceHorn 31701]

Go Navy!

But, I do have to ask, why did we get stuck with this duty?  These aren't US flagged vessels, this is world police stuff.

Lots of European countries have sufficient navies to do this stuff.  Do they ever do it?  Not to go all Trump about it, but for real.

[atomheartbevo 90119]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Go Navy!

But, I do have to ask, why did we get stuck with this duty?  These aren't US flagged vessels, this is world police stuff.

Lots of European countries have sufficient navies to do this stuff.  Do they ever do it?  Not to go all Trump about it, but for real.

One or both tankers were headed for the US.

I also wonder if we have subs operating in that area.  Iranians were worried about the destroyers they could see, but should have been worried about what they couldn't see.  Then again, they had some big-ass UAVs following them around.

[F250 28959]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Go Navy!

But, I do have to ask, why did we get stuck with this duty?  These aren't US flagged vessels, this is world police stuff.

Lots of European countries have sufficient navies to do this stuff.  Do they ever do it?  Not to go all Trump about it, but for real.

Isn't protecting shipping lanes one of those things that comes with being the world's superpower? I figured the British had the same responsibility in the past.

[TwiceHorn 31701]

4 minutes ago, F250 said:

Isn't protecting shipping lanes one of those things that comes with being the world's superpower? I figured the British had the same responsibility in the past.

I dunno.  But this is in just about everyone's interest, so it seems like it ought to be a team effort.

Maybe it's collateral to other, more serious (i.e. Russia or Middle East) things we're already doing there.  But it seems like some of our Western allies, particularly NATO, should lend a hand. Maybe they do?

[atomheartbevo 90119]

15 minutes ago, F250 said:

Isn't protecting shipping lanes one of those things that comes with being the world's superpower? I figured the British had the same responsibility in the past.

8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I dunno.  But this is in just about everyone's interest, so it seems like it ought to be a team effort.

Maybe it's collateral to other, more serious (i.e. Russia or Middle East) things we're already doing there.  But it seems like some of our Western allies, particularly NATO, should lend a hand. Maybe they do?

There are at least British and French ships in the Gulf with us as well as a large presence in the Indian Ocean.

This was from May and talked about US/British/French working together.

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-navy-strait-of-hormuz-persian-gulf-tensions-63ac622781b97d7fa578f440bd074f64

Edited July 6, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[F250 28959]

12 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I dunno.  But this is in just about everyone's interest, so it seems like it ought to be a team effort.

Maybe it's collateral to other, more serious (i.e. Russia or Middle East) things we're already doing there.  But it seems like some of our Western allies, particularly NATO, should lend a hand. Maybe they do?

I think the British and Australian navy is still involved but from what I recall this primary duty was picked up by the U.S. from the Brits after WWII when they handed over the baton. They said something like "with great power comes great responsibility. Now you have to pay for it!"

Seriously though, I think this is just one of those responsibilities that the British guided us into as we assumed their previous responsibilities.

I also assume there is a lot of benefit in being the world's enforcer at sea. Blockade countries at will while protecting your nation's and allies industries. Basically, we make the rules.

[atomheartbevo 90119]

12 minutes ago, F250 said:

Seriously though, I think this is just one of those responsibilities that the British guided us into as we assumed their previous responsibilities.

It pretty much was - it's a huge part of the reason why American businesses flourished around the world - we provide stability for shipping our goods around the world as well as importing goods/raw materials, and the stability ensures markets overseas are open to us and we to them.

Peter Zeihan has hours of videos talking about it - and I'm not knocking him, I've had a couple of classes that talk about how if you are going to be an economic power, you have to back it up with military power and keep trade routes open.  This goes back to the Roman days and how much commerce flowed in and out of Rome thanks to the stability they provided, but more recent examples include things like the European powers rushing to exploit North America and building up their navies (and clashing) so that they kept their trade routes open.

When you look at pre-1939, England was swinging way above her weight class when you map out all of the areas that the Royal Navy operated in.

 

[UT_OB1 2227]

FAFO?  Doesn’t seem like there were any consequences. Iranian ship just fled. No shots fired by US. Why don’t we scramble a few jets and sink them?    Seems like we sink a few and maybe they don’t capture 20 ships since 2021

[Schulz2.0 29065]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

I also wonder if we have subs operating in that area.  

We usually have one somewhere in that general area.

[Nivek 17060]

FAFO?  Doesn’t seem like there were any consequences. Iranian ship just fled. No shots fired by US. Why don’t we scramble a few jets and sink them?    Seems like we sink a few and maybe they don’t capture 20 ships since 2021

We don’t have to sink them. They can just disappear.

[Parliament 14402]

7 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

FAFO?  Doesn’t seem like there were any consequences. Iranian ship just fled. No shots fired by US. Why don’t we scramble a few jets and sink them?    Seems like we sink a few and maybe they don’t capture 20 ships since 2021

The FA stage will continue for awhille, before the FO starts.