U.S. Navy Commander Warns Iran: Don't Try Closing Gulf Oil Passageway

U.S. Navy Commander Warns Iran: Don't Try Closing Gulf Oil Passageway

www.foxnews.com

The U.S. Navy and its Gulf allies will not allow Iran to seal off the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the country is attacked, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the Gulf said Wednesday.

The warning comes as Iran's oil minister vows that any attack on his country by the United States or Israel would provoke an unimaginably fierce response.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Iran: US attack equals world war III
Pentagon Official Warns of Israeli Attack on Iran

[edit on 7/2/2008 by JacKatMtn]

The sabre rattling continues to gain momentum, I am beginning to believe that we are closing in on another conflict.

Fleet commanders aren't usually permitted to voice these types of positions.

Sure you might hear this type of chest thumping from some brass, safe in the cofines of the Pentagon, but a fleet commander?



www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I believe the situation has gone beyond saber rattling. It's a matter of when.
It will come to pass. And a third of the rivers, and a third of the lands......
Call it wormwood.

I just want to know one thing, what are we going to do about it?

The waterway is only 50 miles wide. How long do you suppose it will take Iranian jets and missile boats to close to within striking distance of American naval forces - a couple of minutes, at best?

The Iranians have the terrain advantage (the strait is ringed by mountains on the Iranian side, I believe), they have missile technology that can probably beat our countermeasures, and because of the strategic importance of the area, they've been preparing for EXACTLY this sort of conflict for decades. They've got more anti-air missile technology deployed than just about any other nation, and it's not vietnam-era junk either.

I guess the Navy thinks they can just park a carrier group at the mouth of the strait and the Iranians will run screaming in every direction, soiling their undergarments in terror.

Call me pessimistic, but I don't think it's going to go down like that.

But hey, what the Hell, let's open a third front against Iran, and give them a chance to play the Afghanistan to our Russia. That sounds like fun.

If American citizens value the lives of their troops, their national pride, and the future of their country, they need to put a stop to this madness before it starts. If Israel gets a wild hair up its butt to attack Iran, let them have at it. Lets just sit this one out.

There is absolutely no chance of an attack on Iran unless they actually strike first - as in, literally started firing on someone or the Iranian government launched a missile at someone. They could close up the strait tomorrow and nothing would happen except meaningless threats. There is no more political capital left to make such a move, and it would start a political circus like we've never seen before on the Hill.

I think most of this is people trying their hardest to make conflict happen by looking for every possible news story for a sign of it.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by ALightinDarkness]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I guess the Navy thinks they can just park a carrier group at the mouth of the strait and the Iranians will run screaming in every direction, soiling their undergarments in terror.

I seriously doubt the Navy's response would be to park a carrier group at the mouth and I really doubt they assume the Iranians would run screaming in every direction. This might be your strategic move but not the Navys. I'm sure they have a very complex and well thought out plan in case something like this would occur.

I saw the interview on Fox earlier today. Vice Adm. Cosgriff talked about the strategic importance of the Straits and how we wouldn't allow Iran to close them. He then said,"There is no animus..." and stumbled over his words for a second, "No animus that I know of, against Iran from the US." He's an honorable man it seems, and the truth is important to him.

They need to back these ships off like 150 miles.Thats not a logical place to be.Even if Israel strikes Iran..that don't mean Iran wouldn't want to try sinking a ship or two of ours.

I have been reading claims that a US attack on Iran is imminent since I first joined ATS.


IMO if Iran tried to blockade Strait of Hormuz the situation would become akin to the sea battles off Guadalcanal the US would lose the most in ships and materials but Iran would ultimately fail in its attempted to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Of course the idiotic masses would claim defeat after the first USN ship was sunk .
Myself I would be more worried about frogmen(SP?) and mini submarines . Cruise missiles can be detected and there launch points hunted by special forces .

[edit on 2-7-2008 by xpert11]

[edit on 2-7-2008 by xpert11]

reply to post by ALightinDarkness

There is absolutely no chance of an attack on Iran unless they actually strike first - as in, literally started firing on someone or the Iranian government launched a missile at someone.

That's probably what will happen...in the Strait of Hormuz.

They could close up the strait tomorrow and nothing would happen except meaningless threats.

Closing the Strait would cause global economic turmoil, and therefore the rest of the world would "look away" while we manufactured an event to be the catalyst for combat.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I just want to know one thing, what are we going to do about it?

The waterway is only 50 miles wide. How long do you suppose it will take Iranian jets and missile boats to close to within striking distance of American naval forces - a couple of minutes, at best.

Not that I want a conflict, but our Navy would crush anything that would try to block the straight, you have seen our fleets, right? You are probably safer on an aircraft carrier than you are on most any other place on earth.

allready posted by infinite 2 days ago

www.abovetopsecret.com...

but as i said in that thread - with teh narrowist part of teh strait 21 miles accross - thats artilery range , so quite frankly whats to stop iran - any US ships would be target practise if there attempted to sail through (in a shooting war)

[edit on 3/7/08 by Harlequin]

reply to post by Harlequin


Actually this is different, infinite's is describing what the Pentagon said, this time it actually came out of the Gulf from a fleet commander there.

However, I appreciate you directing me to that thread since it clarifies this piece for me.

I missed out on the PENTAGON warning aboout the strait, now it makes sense that the fleet commander is just emphasizing what was said a few days earlier by the brass in DC.

Thanks for the heads up

Actually is very easy to stop the traffic in the gulf, using the US naval fleet to cause congestion.

Iran all it as to do is target the fleet first and the damaged ships will become the barriers as they could become disable.

Either that or they could fill the gulf with junk and then blow it up.

The pathway is not that wide.

Blocking will not be the problem, cleaning the mess will be.

Wow, people what is the Navy's primary mission? It's simple really; it's to keep the sea lanes open. That's what we do period the end. Should another nation attempt to close sea/shipping lanes it amounts to an act of war on their part. In such an event yes we would take losses but the Navy isn't quite as easy to beat as you seem to think.


Do I think it will happen? No, I may be wrong but neither side really wants an all out war at least nobody with any common sense anyway. Remember the sabre rattling and war drum beating is happening on both sides making both sides look equally stupid.

Thanks to Harlequin to alerting me to infinite's thread,

had I seen his thread I would have just added this bit of information to that thread.

So I invite everyone to continue this discussion in infinite's thread on this topic:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks again

Closing.