In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group conduct joint operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations over the weekend. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Catie Coyle)
CNN: Iranian boat fired missile at US drone prior to tanker attack, US official says
Washington (CNN): In the hours before the attack on the two tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, the Iranians spotted a US drone flying overhead and launched a surface-to-air missile at the unmanned aircraft, a US official told CNN.
The missile missed the drone and fell into the water, the official said.
Prior to taking fire, the American MQ-9 drone observed Iranian vessels closing in on the tankers, the official added, though the source did not say whether the unmanned aircraft saw the boats conducting an actual attack.
Still, it is the first claim that the US has information of Iranian movements prior to the attack.
The same official also said in the days prior to the attack, a US reaper drone was shot down in the Red Sea by what is believed to be an Iranian missile fired by Houthi rebels.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: This is what an undeclared shooting war looks like.
14 comments:
We will know that a war is coming with Iran when US troops in Iraq are attacked by PMU’s with a large loss of US lives.
Iran is desperate. China is desperate.
Big opportunity for stupidity
Shame it missed.
Wouldn't make a difference, if true a miss was reason enough to sink it.
Where are we with regards to Iran? I would liken this to the situation we were in with regards to North Korea around about September 2017 but more intense than that situation. At that time, war with North Korea appeared to be inevitable coupled with victory in such a war being far from certain and the deaths of millions if not tens of millions of Americans all but certain. Today we are in a much better situation with regards to North Korea than we were then. For this improvement I think Donald Trump and his team deserve the lions share of the credit.
I predict the same thing will occur with regards to Iran. Around about September 2019 things will be much better with regards to Iran than they are today. Trump's opponents simply need to get out of the way or find ways they can add value. Since there does not appear to be much chance of this happening and past success as in the situation with North Korea is not a guarantee of future success the outcome is far from certain and I would reiterate the situation seems far more intense today with regards to Iran than it ever was with regards to North Korea. Again, as with North Korea, the military outcome in a war with Iran is far from certain and it is all but guaranteed that 10s of millions of Americans would die in such a war.
"Iran is desperate. China is desperate. Big opportunity for stupidity." I would tend to agree and I would add to this Russia is desperate. With 2018 being a rough year for Putin, 2019 shaping up to be even worse, and mock graves for Putin now appearing in Russia things are not looking so good for them. Trump and his team have proven to be there most formidable adversaries. Pre-Trump Russia and China were riding high and appeared to be invincible. IMHO Trump and his team have changed this situation.
As for big opportunities for stupidity, I would add Trump's political opponents to this. After all they've already undermined and utterly destroyed a very careful and meticulous diplomatic effort with regards to Russia. As such, I wouldn't put it past them to try and undermine Trump and his team with regards to Iran and remember what a war with Iran will entail, no guarantee of victory along with 10s of millions of Americans dead. All of this combined with the tendency of American leadership to both underestimate the abilities of adversaries while overestimating ours all combines to make this a very dangerous situation.
Poster
Trump believed he had the battle with Kim and NK won and it showed in his bragging about it during the "negotiations". Then, believing he was the boss man he went to that last meeting with demands and no gives and the world saw how shallow the initial "progress" had been. The world saw that in Trump's face. Kim looked pretty dejected too no doubt because he had expectations, that turned out to be false, that he would gain something from the meeting. So back to square one.
As for war with Iran. If you were in that area and followed the last 30 years history, had people you know in other Mid East countries killed through senseless US initiated wars you would be expecting a war, made up or created through intimidation.
Trump is taking on a lot given the world wide intimidations and risking a lot as well. Once he is gone, it will take decades to undo the damage he has done.
Caecus
Not not necessarily Iran, but a nuclear war, hopefully limited by deadly none the less.
Yeah, nonsense they struggled to beat Iraq in almost a decade, gulf war 2.0 with probably 2 or 3 hundred casualties, let alone millions.
Operation mantis mk2
fazman
On possible US causalities you have to look at the bigger picture given these disturbing times. It could involve more than just the US and Iran. Talking speculatively of course.
As for Iraq 2 casualties certainly not in the millions but a bit more than 300 and still counting.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263798/american-soldiers-killed-in-iraq/
As for Iran vs Iraq. Here is an interesting read.
Caecus,
How would 10s of millions of Americans die? Iran has numerous proxies/allies. Given our immigration policy and the time involved it would be shocking to me uf they aren't already here in substantial force. I would suspect they'd employ the use of chemical weapons and perhaps suitcase nuclear weapons. I'd be surprised if they don't already have something like this.
The bottom line a war with Irtremely costly combined with no guarantee of victory but should it come to war we might get lucky. After all someone wins the lottery!! Basing one's financial future on winning the lottery is unwise and basing foreign policy on getting lucky is unwise as well.
With that said I think we are going to avoid war. I predict this will follow the same trajectory that North Korea has. In other words, a year from now we'll be in a better position with regards to Iran than we are today. I pray my prediction is right.
Bob,
I think you fundamentally misread the North Korean situation. The South Koreans recently expressed satisfaction with how things are progressing. Also, Japan lowered Their Level of alertness with Regards to North Korea and, to the best zi can tell, haven't raised it. Essentially those most directly affected seem to be very supportive of the current situation. As to what the "world" sees, I don't think South Korea cares. As to Trump, they may have expected him to cave. In this case, he's shown that he's level-headed and not to be triffled with.
"...take decades to undo the damage he has done..." Much damage had been done by a multitude of nations before Trump's arrival as POTUS. Actually it looks to me as if he is methodically fixing the situation. 1.)He's committed us to getting out of Syria. 2.)There are on and off negotiations with the Taliban. This is a good start that I would expect to bear fruit in the next year and a half to two years with concrete steps to end our involvement here. 3.)Relations with Israel, the Kurds, and much of the Sunni Arsb world are excellent and haven't been better than they are now in a number of decades. 4.)Relations with South Korean and Japanese leadership is going well. They are having to respect Trump as an equal. 5.)Xi who is likely either the most powerful or second most powerful person on earth recently referred to POTUS as a "friend." Forging good working relations with powerful foreign leaders is important as Trump seems to understand.
I could go on. I'm simply not seeing damage caused by him that you are seeing. It appears to me he is having a big role for positive development. For what it's worth, I think it is vital that he gets a second term.
I doubt the U. S would contemplate a ground war against Iran so as per the 91 gulf war(l meant round 2) it was only 230 odd casualties.
You can't seriously believe that Trump is still going to get us out of Syria after the pants-on-fire freakout the media (and his own administration) had when he last suggested it. He was told he's not allowed to do that and so he sent MORE troops. You fucking boomers have got to realize that these guys on both sides of the aisle don't deserve your unconditional support just because you made some facebook posts a few years back about how much you loved them and now don't want to feel stupid for backing away.
Poster
I see you have a very positive attitude concerning the things discussed.
Trump is a businessman but not a very good one. He violates agreements as if they are written in sand or never existed at all. That has been his style in his business life and is now showing up in his political/world leader style. For sure he appears to be opposed to war as any businessman not particularly associated with the war industry folk might well be. While war enriches the wealthy WIC folk but it disrupts normal business terribly and no businessman would want that.
Trump is able to pull back on the war machine to some extent because he has made the wealthy his priority at the expense of the normal citizen in the USA and has satisfied them, for a while.
The normal operation mode of the US has been undeclared war created through the disruption and subversion of governments around the world. That will change when Trump's temporary break from that ends as he leaves office, perhaps as soon as next year.
In the meantime his major success as he bragged many times with NK was to have them stop missile tests. His success in that regard seems rather hollow when you consider that NK's break from testing occurred when testing facilities failed. He appears to be a little bit more active now. Kim's reaction to Trump's failure to move a bit during their last meeting was quite telling. That meeting was an utter failure.
It would be interesting to learn what the Trump's vision of success regarding NK is. Does he see the country continuing as divided, or as NK giving up the ghost and uniting with the South? How Kim would feel about the latter?
Certainly the things you enumerated are trending along positive lines however, there are also forces that would rather see disruption continue. Don't put too much faith in one political leader calling the other "friend" as an indication of good things to come. From Xi's perspective Trump has caused him untold misery something you would not expect from a "friend".
China's mere mention of putting REE on the line will have had significant impact on the situation regarding trade with the US. Likely with that the US and China have hit the wall and the next meeting will be about how they can back away from the problem while saving face and returning to the previous status quo. When that happens Trump will brag about his success and try to find some other issue on which he can bass his re-election campaign.
Kneel before Trump foreign subhumanoids!!!
Post a Comment