Oh @^#... the war is about to start :(

[RonPaulFTFW]

they are running a story on CNN about the Iranians attacking some of our boats in international waters?

Also mentioned that Ron Paul will be on CNN next and on Jay Leno.

[lasenorita]

It's still early yet. Not much information being released, but it is something to be concerned about... I'm just glad no one got hurt.


Listen to CNN TV radio here:
http://www.cnn.com/audio/radio/cnntv.html

[lenwood]

I just checked a couple of news sites and couldn't find anything. I assume you meant you saw this on television. Can anyone find a link on the story?

[chinaCat]

just the type of news a McCain would need day before an important primary

[evadmurd]

Unfortunately, I think it is going to take something like this to wake people up to what the good Doctor is saying. When it comes to action and not rhetoric, I don't think the American people will stand for it. I hope and pray I am wrong.

[RonPaulFTFW]

I just heard about it and can't find any intertubes stories. sorry.

Paul just slammed mcCain on the war after that segment though, so that's great.

[Johnnybags]

and then turned around. LOL, Bush policies fail again, now he is going to have an incident to war with Iran. The entire policy is sheer madness. Oh well, war is the health of the state and we are sick in need of a doctor.

[colecrowe]

U.S. officials: 5 Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed, provoked 3 U.S. Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

Front page CNN no details, happened on Saturday, nothing came of it violence-wise

[colecrowe]

You're kidding ...right colecrowe? Bleah. Here's the reaction to the news:

Brent oil rises after Iran boats 'provoke' US ships
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL0714257020080107?rpc=401&

Oil Rebounds Above $98 on Report of U.S.-Iran Naval Incident
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=alYCXzfS6bFw&refer=commodities



Other news sources:

U.S. warships harassed by Iran
http://www.kfty.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=86fb01a6-5802-4191-b62e-0af5fa75d6d3



LOTS of stories popping up now: http://news.google.com/news?q=Strait+of+Hormuz

Seems germane:

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/28/181730.shtml
Iran Readies Plan to Close Strait of Hormuz

Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Reprint Information
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White House: We're Not Subject to FOIA
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Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals
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Iran's Revolutionary Guards are making preparations for a massive assault on U.S. naval forces and international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to a former Iranian intelligence officer who defected to the West in 2001.

The plans, which include the use of bottom-tethered mines potentially capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers, were designed to counter a U.S. land invasion and to close the Strait of Hormuz, the defector said in a phone interview from his home in Europe.

They would also be triggered if the United States or Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on Iran to knock out nuclear and missile facilities.

"The plan is to stop trade," the source said.

Between 15 and 16.5 million barrels of oil transit the Strait of Hormuz each day, roughly 20 percent of the world's daily oil production, according to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration.

Story Continues Below



The source provided NewsMax parts of a more than 30-page contingency plan, which bears the stamp of the Strategic Studies Center of the Iranian Navy, NDAJA. The document appears to have been drafted in September or October of 2005.

The NDAJA document was just one part of a larger strike plan to be coordinated by a single operational headquarters that would integrate Revolutionary Guards missile units, strike aircraft, surface and underwater naval vessels, Chinese-supplied C-801 and C-802 anti-shipping missiles, mines, coastal artillery, as well as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

The overall plans are being coordinated by the intelligence office of the Ministry of Defense, known as HFADA.

Revolutionary Guards missile units have identified "more than 100 targets, including Saudi oil production and oil export centers," the defector said. "They have more than 45 to 50 Shahab-3 and Shahab-4 missiles ready for shooting" against those targets and against Israel, he added.

The defector, Hamid Reza Zakeri, warned the CIA in July 2001 that Iran was preparing a massive attack on America using Arab terrorists flying airplanes, which he said was planned for Sept. 11, 2001. The CIA dismissed his claims and called him a fabricator.

The source also identified a previously unknown nuclear weapons site last year to this writer, which was independently confirmed by three separate intelligence agencies.

NewsMax showed the defector's documents to two native Persian-speakers who each have more than 20 years of experience analyzing intelligence documents from the Islamic Republic regime. They believed the documents were authentic.

A U.S. military intelligence official, while unable to authenticate the documents without seeing them, recognized the Strategic Studies Center and noted that the individual whose name appears as the author of the plan, Abbas Motaj, was head of the Iranian navy until late 2005.

A former Revolutionary Guards officer, contacted by NewsMax in Europe, immediately recognized the Naval Strategic Studies institute from its Persian-language acronym, NDAJA. He provided independent information on recent deployments of Shahab-3 missiles that coincided with information contained in the NDAJA plan.

The Iranian contingency plan is summarized in an "Order of Battle" map, which schematically lays out Iran's military and strategic assets and how they will be used against U.S. military forces from the Strait of Hormuz up to Busheir.

The map identifies three major areas of operations, called "mass kill zones," where Iranian strategists believe they can decimate a U.S.-led invasion force before it actually enters the Persian Gulf.

The kill zones run from the low-lying coast just to the east of Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port that sits in the bottleneck of the Strait of Hormuz, to the ports of Jask and Shah Bahar on the Indian Ocean, beyond the Strait.

Behind the kill zones are strategic missile launchers labeled as "area of chemical operations," "area of biological warfare operations," and "area where nuclear operations start."

Iran's overall battle management will be handled through C4I and surveillance satellites. It is unclear in the documents shared with NewsMax whether this refers to commercial satellites or satellite intelligence obtained from allies, such as Russia or China. Iran has satellite cooperation programs with both nations.

The map is labeled "the current status of military forces in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, 1384." 1384 is the Iranian year that ends on March 20, 2006.

Iran plans to begin offensive operations by launching successive waves of explosives-packed boats against U.S. warships in the Gulf, piloted by "Ashura" or suicide bombers.

The first wave can draw on more than 1,000 small fast-attack boats operated by the Revolutionary Guards navy, equipped with rocket launchers, heavy machine-guns and possibly Sagger anti-tank missiles.

In recent years, the Iranians have used these small boats to practice "swarming" raids on commercial vessels and U.S. warships patrolling the Persian Gulf.

The White House listed two such attacks in the list of 10 foiled al-Qaida terrorist attacks it released on Feb. 10. The attacks were identified as a "plot by al-Qaida operatives to attack ships in the [Persian] Gulf" in early 2003, and a separate plot to "attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz."

A second wave of suicide attacks would be carried out by "suicide submarines" and semi-submersible boats, before Iran deploys its Russian-built Kilo-class submarines and Chinese-built Huodong missile boats to attack U.S. warships, the source said.

The 114-foot Chinese boats are equipped with advanced radar-guided C-802s, a sea-skimming cruise-missile with a 60-mile range against which many U.S. naval analysts believe there is no effective defense.

When Iran first tested the sea-launched C-802s a decade ago, Vice Admiral Scott Redd, then commander of U.S. naval forces in the Gulf, called them "a new dimension ... of the Iranian threat to shipping."

Admiral Redd was appointed to head the National Counterterrorism Center last year.

Iran's naval strategists believe the U.S. will attempt to land ground forces to the east of Bandar Abbas. Their plans call for extensive use of ground-launched tactical missiles, coastal artillery, as swell as strategic missiles aimed at Saudi Arabia and Israel tipped with chemical, biological and possibly nuclear warheads.

The Iranians also plan to lay huge minefields across the Persian Gulf inside the Strait of Hormuz, effectively trapping ships that manage to cross the Strait before they can enter the Gulf, where they can be destroyed by coastal artillery and land-based "Silkworm" missile batteries.

Today, Iran has sophisticated EM-53 bottom-tethered mines, which it purchased from China in the 1990s. The EM-53 presents a serious threat to major U.S. surface vessels, since its rocket-propelled charge is capable of hitting the hull of its target at speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour. Some analysts believe it can knock out a U.S. aircraft carrier.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff has been warning about Iran's growing naval buildup in the Persian Gulf for over a decade, and in a draft presidential finding submitted to President Clinton in late February 1995, concluded that Iran already had the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz.

"I think it would be problematic for any navy to face a combination of mines, small boats, anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, coastal artillery, and Silkworms," said retired Navy Commander Joseph Tenaglia, CEO of Tactical Defense Concepts, a maritime security company. "This is a credible threat."

In Tenaglia's view, "the major problem will be the mines. Naval minefields are hard to locate and to sweep," and the United States has few minesweepers. "It's going to be like running the gauntlet getting through there," he said.

When Iran last mined the Gulf, in 1987-1988, several U.S. ships and reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers were hit, even though the mines they used were similar to those used in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915, Tenaglia said.

The biggest challenge facing Iran today would be to actually lay the mines without getting caught. "If they are successful in getting mines into the water, it's going to take us months to get them out," Tenaglia said.

[colecrowe]

more:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27344177.htm
FACTBOX-The Strait of Hormuz, Iran and the risk to oil
27 Mar 2007 17:40:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
Alert Me | Printable view | Email this article | RSS XML [-] Text [+]

March 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit a 2007 high this week on tensions over Iran's nuclear plans and its capture of 15 British servicemen.

Analysts fear Iran could seek to impede trade through the Strait of Hormuz if it were threatened or attacked.

The strategic channel at the entrance to the Gulf is the world's most important waterway or choke point because of the huge volume of oil exported through it daily.

-- Oil flows through the Strait account for roughly two-fifths of all globally traded oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

-- Some 16-17 million barrels of oil are carried through the narrow channel on oil tankers every day, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Some 2 million barrels of oil products, including fuel oil, are exported through the passage daily.

-- Ninety percent of oil exported from Gulf producers is carried on oil tankers through the Strait.

-- Iran, which sits adjacent to the strait, has in the past talked of impeding traffic through it if threatened.

-- The IEA in February noted Arab and Iranian press reports about political pressure in Iran for shipping to be blocked if U.N. sanctions are applied in connection with its nuclear programme.

-- U.S. Central Command's (CENTCOM) key mission in the Gulf is to ensure the free flow of oil and energy supplies.

-- Between 1984 and 1987, a "Tanker War" took place between Iran and Iraq, where each nation fired on each other's oil tankers bound for their respective ports. Foreign-flagged vessels were caught in the crossfire.

-- Shipping in the Gulf dropped by 25 percent because of the exchange, forcing the intervention of the United States to secure the shipping lanes.

-- Iran has admitted to deploying anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles on Abu Musa, an island strategically located near the Strait's shipping lanes.

-- The EIA predicts oil exports passing through the strait will double to between 30 million and 34 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020.

-- Over 75 percent of Japan's oil passes through the Strait.

-- Merchant ships carrying grains, iron ore, sugar, perishables and containers full of finished goods also pass through the strategic sea corridor en route to Gulf countries and major ports like Dubai.

-- Heavy armour and military supplies for the U.S. armed forces in Iraq and other Gulf countries pass through the channel aboard U.S. Navy-owned, U.S.-flagged and foreign-flagged ships.

-- Geographic location: a narrow bend of water separating Oman and Iran connects biggest Gulf oil producers like Saudi Arabia with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

-- At its narrowest point the Strait is only 34 miles (55 km) across.

-- The Strait consists of 2-mile wide navigable channels for inbound and outbound tanker traffic as well as a 2-mile wide buffer zone.

Sources: International Energy Agency (IEA), U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), GlobalSecurity.org, U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Clarkson shipping consultancy.

[RonPaulFTFW]

thanks crowe.

[SonOfLiberty]

calm down for now, it simply says the boats were testing the US ships, no shots were fired.

[colecrowe]

Fox! :) just said it happened this morning!

[SonOfLiberty]

And it happened 2 days ago according to CNN! If it was a major incident we would have heard about it nonstop by now

[lasenorita]

First report from MSNBC:

U.S. says Iranian gunboats harassed warships
Officials describe incident as a 'significant provocative act'
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22537199/

[colecrowe]

Fox news's Scary Headline(tm):

Showdown in the Strait!

[torchbearer]

i think this works in our favor.

all Ron has to do is ask the question:
why did they attack our ships?
Because our ships were right off their coast.
What would we do if china parked its navy off of our coast in a threatened manner? We'd send a lot more than 5 gunships against their entire navy.. that's for sure.

[lasenorita]

You're kidding ...right colecrowe? Bleah. Here's the reaction to the news:

Brent oil rises after Iran boats 'provoke' US ships
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSL0714257020080107?rpc=401&

Oil Rebounds Above $98 on Report of U.S.-Iran Naval Incident
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=alYCXzfS6bFw&refer=commodities

ETA:
Oil Is Little Changed After Report of Iran-U.S. Confrontation
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=a.XvWYGYgE8s&refer=energy

Oil jumps above $98 on new U.S.-Iran tensions
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKMOL72590220080107?rpc=401&
http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=342979

Other news sources:

U.S. warships harassed by Iran
http://www.kfty.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=86fb01a6-5802-4191-b62e-0af5fa75d6d3

Pentagon says ships harassed by Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080107/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_navy_iran

[HOLLYWOOD]

Interesting how this report is delayed until the EVE of the New Hampshire Primary.

You can never trust the Dissemination of Information/Disinformation from the White House, State Dept, & National Security Council.

As you all know... the NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL LOVES JOHN McCAIN. what better way to get a boost

[peruvianRP]

First was from Ron Paul. He knows that the US still wants to go to war with IRAN.

;)

[JanusFIN]

Dont go on this, still, and again...

You know what is happening, so much that you know about your mainstream media, and how it works, listen first what Iran says about this, not what your Elite says...

This is pure propaganda, and before Iran say their point of wiev, and 100% there was some sailors around the world in the scene. ( Straight of hormuz is full on tankers and ships ) And you get their eyeview testimony, dont do any conclusions about what has really happened.

They lie you all the time, and still you think that your mainstream say you something what really is true? Ask all sides before you condemn, and read international posts and articles too!

[JDouglasFisher]

well I will say this...

If we go and have any military intervention with Iran, I say ALL OF US call our Assemblymen and Senators and make the BIGGEST STINK EVER known to man about it...

[amonasro]

We are doomed I tell you!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED