"Iran Navy Fires on Container Ship" Topic

Iranian Navy vessels fired shots at and boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged commercial container ship in the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, a senior defense official told Fox News.

The Maersk Tigris ship -- originally heading to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, is now being escorted by the Iranian Navy into waters near Bandar Abbas, home of Iran's largest Navy base.

The USS Farragut, a guided missile destroyer, is making "best speed" en route to the area and has dispatched a helicopter to get a closer look, the official said…

link

Maybe it's time to stop playing nice with the Iranians and start treating them no differently than AQ, Daesh, etc.

Oh boy…. And now it begins. Let's hope saner heads prevail. And let's not jump to conclusions until the whole story comes out.

Seems like a pretty clear-cut act of piracy to me.

I have no doubt the USN and USAF could deal quite effectively with the situation, given the chance, based upon previous history.

I suspect they won't be given the chance.

Apparently the U.S. has certain obligations regarding the Marshall Islands, but nobody seems to know what they are…

"no knowledge of the cargo"

That might be important to the the "What's going on?" question.

BTW, the Iranians didn't cut off the heads of the crew.

If there are weapons on that ship the Iranians might have gotten a "windfall." The US may have to downplay it diplomatically lest it becomes a political embarassment.

'Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the cargo ship's master had initially refused an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters,'

Interesting use, by the Pentagon, of the word 'further' – as if the ship was in Iranian waters already. Don't know if that's the case, but if it is then why shouldn't the Iranians stop and board it? The US would have done the same to an Iranian vessel.

From Wikipedia:

Politically, the Marshall Islands is a presidential republic in free association with the United States, with the US providing defense, subsidies, and access to social services. With few natural resources, the islands' wealth is based on a service economy, as well as some fishing and agriculture; aid from the United States represents a large percentage of the islands' gross domestic product. The country uses the United States dollar as its currency.

Jumping to conclusions? This is TMP, whatever was I thinking…

You know, the Iranian's just might have had a legitimate reason for boarding and moving the ship to port (not saying they do, but it is just possible. There has been many a US flagged vessel seized by foreign nations for non-payment of port fees, of all things. Are you suggesting we go to full war over THAT?? If you are, then you're an idiot..). Might we have a bit of forbearance until the rest of the story comes out?

Well, looks like we do have some additional news….

Per CNN:

"The M/V Maersk Tigris was seized at the request of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, Iran's semi-official news agency FARS is reporting, citing informed sources. The Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was seized after a relevant court order was issued, according to the source, indicating that the IPMO had monetary differences with the ship owner."

Looks like Maersk has some explaining to do…

@Garrisonminiatures
If the ship was transiting the Straits of Hormuz, then the Safe route is actually well within Iranian waters (look at the chart).

Lots of places in the world where you need to be in someone's territorial waters (apart from Hormuz, the Singapore Straits come to mind). It isn't illegal or sinister, just a function of the space available.

dvyws9m, he didn't say anything about illegal or sinister, only that it the ship is in Iranian waters, the Iranians have lots of rights that they can exercise even under the U.S. interpretations of the laws of the seas.

I they're sending the USS Farragut along, the Iranians are well and truly attached to another object by an inclined plane, wrapped helically around an axis…

link

John T

Not really. If the above is true, then the Iranians were operating well within international law. Farragut was evidently responding to a distress call from the Maersk Tigris (which it is suppose to do, regardless of source).

A lot of mis-information out there (not unusual as the story is just developing). Some are reporting it as a US flagged vessel (its not, its Marshal Islands flagged), some as a US owned vessel (its not, its owed by Maersk, a Danish shipping line).

One interesting tidbit from CNN: It appears the Iranians trailed a Maersk ship last Friday. Given the volume of traffic in the straits (they could grab just about anybody, but were fixed on Maersk vessels), that would tend to lend some credence to a dust-up with the Iranian port authority.

Everyone knows the Marshal Islands have been posturing for war,it was only a matter of time!!!!LoL!

I say break out the Q-Ships, Semmes' Alabama(Product Improved) and the Hunley SSNemo!

There are a large number of people who assume that everything Iran does is wrong, everything the US does is right. Sometimes, Iran is right… International Law applies to everyone, so far I've read nothing that suggests Iran has acted outside that.

According to one of the online shipping news sources, it is reported that the vessel is owned by an American investment firm, managed by a German ship manager and chartered (leased) by Maersk which uses the vessel in its regular service between the Black Sea and Middle East.

The article makes reference to another article published yesterday in which the Iranian president warned that any government officials who aimed to block a deal to ease sanctions should "think about another job." I wonder if this is part of an internal Iranian power-struggle?

Internal power struggle is a possibility. As well as over zealous individuals or legitimate lawful action. Personally when reading such news stories to keep perspective and avoid my personal bias/prejudice I re-read the story with the participants reversed. Eg US coastguard intercept Iranian flagged ship in US territorial waters.

It does not work in reverse. Everyone transits the Straits of Hormuz, often in Iranian waters to travel to destinations all over the world.

Most of American waters are in places a ship would be in order to go to or from America.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

It's a clever CIA plot to destabilize the Iranian regime via a Trojan Horse!

I heard that the Maersk Tigris was transporting a critical shipment of sunglasses, denim jeans and men's cologne…

This is from Lloyd's List:

"No official statement has yet been issued by Iran. However Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted the managing director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, Mohammed Saeidnejad, as saying that the vessel had been detained based on a court ruling which ordered the confiscation of Maersk's assets.

The report cites a legal complaint made by an unnamed private Iranian firm which led to Maersk being indicted by the Tehran Provincial Court last March.

Maersk Tigris, deployed in Maersk's ME3 Black Sea-Persian Gulf service. Its 24-strong crew are mostly East European and Asian.

While the Marshall Islands is a sovereign nation, the US has full authority and responsibility for security and defence under the terms of the most recent agreement that entered into force in 2004.

Pentagon spokesman Col Steve Warren said that Maersk Tigris was inside Iranian territorial waters at the time of the seizure, however he pointed out that it was within international shipping lanes and the principle of innocent passage would have applied."

And this from a Reuters feed:

"IRANIAN EMBASSY IN DENMARK SAYS MAERSK TIGRIS VESSEL WILL BE RELEASED ONCE MAERSK SETTLES ITS DEBTS"

Nothing mysterious. Sounds like a commercial dispute.

As I said in the other thread on this, the problem is that it's highly probable that Maersk doesn't own the cargo on that ship.

In fact, I'd be surprised if Maersk owned the majority of the cargo containers (not their contents).

So what this means is that all the people who have stuff on that ship are now going to be highly ed at Maersk and/or Iran.

Yep, the owners of the cargo are in the lurch (per standard legal interpretation). Their recourse is through their insurer or directly to the carrier. And, in this case, it looks like Maersk's legal department will be working overtime to get this mess resolved.

According to the NYT, the whole dispute goes back to a case of 10 undelivered containers shipped from Iran to the UAE in 2005. Maersk lost the case in court back in Feb and was ordered to pay damages (which, apparently, they didn't). So the court ordered the seizure. Not all that unusual.

So some people want to start a war over a legal dispute? Not everything Iran does is meant to destroy the world. At least they didnt have 19 of their citizens fly planes into our buildings like certain allies of ours.

New development …

TMP link

Dan

And down the rabbit hole we go….