Houthi Red Sea Blockade

[Kirkhill]

1:21PM

Iran warns US not to target suspected Iranian spy ships​

Iran has warned the United States not to target two cargo ships in the Red Sea that have long been suspected as serving as a base for Iranian commandos.
In a video statement posted by the Iranian military, a narrator describes the ships as “floating armouries” before a warning is issued overlaid with footage of US warships and an American flag.
The vessels, the Behshad and the Saviz, are registered as commercial cargo ships but are thought to act as forward operating bases for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia described the Saviz as a maritime base staffed by men in military fatigues. Saudi-owned television channels also showed footage of the Saviz with what appeared to be a machine gun bolted to the ship’s deck.

Access Restricted

"I warn you! Don't hit me there!"

Am I watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon or is some Iranian telegraphing that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has outlived its usefulness?

 

[brihard]

Access Restricted

"I warn you! Don't hit me there!"

Am I watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon or is some Iranian telegraphing that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has outlived its usefulness?

Nice of Iran to admit that those ships serve a military purpose. Any bets on whether the Americans quietly told Iran to simmer down, because those ships are increasingly high on the target list?

 

[Kirkhill]

Related to the above

12:41PM

British airstrikes 'fuelling chaos and disorder', Iran warns​

Iran has warned that British and US strikes on Yemen are “fuelling chaos and disorder” and risking a wider war in the Middle East.
Nassar Kanani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, claimed that the strikes contradict US and UK policy on avoiding an escalation in the conflict and that further attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen are a “threat to international peace and security”.
These attacks are “in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region,” Mr Kanani added.
Hamas has also condemned Saturday’s strikes on Yemen, calling the bombings “a blatant assault on the sovereignty of a sister Arab country, and an escalation that will drag the region into further turmoil”.
The comments came after Britain and the United States launched a fresh wave of strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday night, in a bid to further disable Iran-backed groups in the region.

The new strikes hit 36 targets across 13 locations following attacks by the Iran-backed group against international and commercial shipping, as well as naval vessels travelling through the Red Sea.

If you were an Iranian that has been leaning on Moscow for support for years, trusting that it will back your play against all-comers but especially the Great Satan, how impressed would you be to discover that:

Moscow can't take Kyiv in three days.
Moscow is begging for ammunition from North Korea.
Moscow is relying on your home made toy aeroplanes to continue its wars.

Isn't Moscow supposed to be the adult in the room?

In the meantime there is little evidence of the real west, the western economy being in danger of total collapse any time soon. On the other hand the economy of Iran is under stress. And its population is very restive - women, youngsters and border tribes (baluchis, arabs, kurds among others). And the economies of Russia and China are looking pretty shaky as well.

Chaos might serve the interests of Twelver fundamentalists pursuing their own Islamist Rapture but it may not serve the needs of the people actually trying to run Iran.

 

[FJAG]

@Kirkhill. I don't disagree with your evaluation at all but the first thought I had when reading it was; we better take care of Iran while we can and before Russia smuggles them some nukes. Not sure if that's a realistic step by Russia, but Russia hasn't been too rational of late.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Nice of Iran to admit that those ships serve a military purpose. Any bets on whether the Americans quietly told Iran to simmer down, because those ships are increasingly high on the target list?

Buy some marine drones from Ukraine, take out the ships and post the videos on a "Free Baluchistan" website. Perfect deniability.

 

[FJAG]

Buy some marine drones from Ukraine, take out the ships and post the videos on a "Free Baluchistan" website. Perfect deniability.

Hell. Buy the drones from Iran through a proxy and then do it using their own stuff.

 

[KevinB]

Hell. Buy the drones from Iran through a proxy and then do it using their own stuff.

Steal the drones from Iran, and then use the drones against them.

Better hijack a shipment of ones going to Russia. Launch them from a site that is close to Russia, onto both Iran and Russia.

 

[OldSolduer]

Buy some marine drones from Ukraine, take out the ships and post the videos on a "Free Baluchistan" website. Perfect deniability.

Blame the Uzbeks. That is what Borat would do.

 

[medicineman]

Blame the Uzbeks. That is what Borat would do.

CCCP1 did too that on SCTV...

 

[OldSolduer]

CCCP1 did too that on SCTV...

Great success!!!

(Think this in Kazakh accent to be proper Borat)

 

[medicineman]

Great success!!!

(Think this in Kazakh accent to be proper Borat)

They did another one where dude's car wouldn't start - looked under the hood and there were straws coming out of the battery..."Uzbeks"

 

[brihard]

Quite a few reports this morning that the Belize-registered bulk carrier MV Rubymar took a serious enough hit that crew have abandoned ship. Mixed RUMINT of damage severity that I won’t repeat, but the Houthis may have achieved their first really solid hit on a vessel using anti-ship ballistic missiles.

 

[dimsum]

Quite a few reports this morning that the Belize-registered bulk carrier MV Rubymar took a serious enough hit that crew have abandoned ship. Mixed RUMINT of damage severity that I won’t repeat, but the Houthis may have achieved their first really solid hit on a vessel using anti-ship ballistic missiles.

It really was just a matter of time (and missiles).

 

[OldSolduer]

They did another one where dude's car wouldn't start - looked under the hood and there were straws coming out of the battery..."Uzbeks"

In fact John Candy did a character called “Georgi”. He didn’t like Uzbeks either. I’ll have to YouTube that.

I can't locate it at this minute but Georgi was a man of few words. "Nyet Comrade" was about all you could get out of him.

I miss the Cold War.......

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Quite a few reports this morning that the Belize-registered bulk carrier MV Rubymar took a serious enough hit that crew have abandoned ship. Mixed RUMINT of damage severity that I won’t repeat, but the Houthis may have achieved their first really solid hit on a vessel using anti-ship ballistic missiles.

37,000 DWT is a fairly small cargo ship and built 1997, so likley was not in the best of shape.

 

[Maxman1]

37,000 DWT is a fairly small cargo ship and built 1997, so likley was not in the best of shape.

At least the front didn't fall off.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Quite a few reports this morning that the Belize-registered bulk carrier MV Rubymar took a serious enough hit that crew have abandoned ship. Mixed RUMINT of damage severity that I won’t repeat, but the Houthis may have achieved their first really solid hit on a vessel using anti-ship ballistic missiles.

All hands are safe...

Crew abandon British-linked cargo ship after Houthi attack off Yemen

The strike on the Rubymar is one of the most damaging attacks so far by the Iran-backed Houthis.

www.bbc.com

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Quite a few reports this morning that the Belize-registered bulk carrier MV Rubymar took a serious enough hit that crew have abandoned ship. Mixed RUMINT of damage severity that I won’t repeat, but the Houthis may have achieved their first really solid hit on a vessel using anti-ship ballistic missiles

It's taking on water and will more than likely sink

Crew abandon British-linked cargo ship after Houthi attack off Yemen

The strike on the Rubymar is one of the most damaging attacks so far by the Iran-backed Houthis.

www.bbc.com

 

[KevinB]

From the BBC Article

US Central Command said its forces had carried out five strikes against three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel (UUV) and one unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday after determining that they presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.

It was the first time that US forces had identified a UUV, or submarine drone, being employed by the Houthis since the attacks began.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the discovery that the Houthis are deploying both USVs and UUVs is a worrying development. The concept of a "swarm attack" - launching a number of relatively cheap missiles and drones simultaneously at an enemy in the hopes of confusing and overwhelming their defences - is straight out of the playbook of the navy of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

 

[brihard]

It's taking on water and will more than likely sink

Crew abandon British-linked cargo ship after Houthi attack off Yemen

The strike on the Rubymar is one of the most damaging attacks so far by the Iran-backed Houthis.

www.bbc.com

Thanks, obviously the sinking rumour was going around yesterday but I couldn’t find a reputable source from casual searching and so didn’t repeat it.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Houthis don’t need to physically close the strait; just make passage uninsurable at rates where the trip can still be worth it.

Eventually they’re gonna land a solid hit on a warship and kill some western sailors at this rate. Military presence has failed to suppress or deter them, or to render the straight safely passable.