Iran Threatens to Shut Down Strait of Hormuz if Sanctions are Imposed
39 replies, posted
Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/world/meast/iran-us-hormuz/index.html?hpt=hp_c1[/url]
[quote]The U.S. Navy said Iran's threat to block the strategically and economically important Strait of Hormuz is unacceptable.
"The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity," Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain spokeswoman Cmdr. Amy Derrick Frost told reporters on Wednesday.
"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated."
The 34-mile-wide shipping channel leads in and out of the Persian Gulf between Iran and Oman. It is strategically important because tankers carrying oil travel through it.
Iran's military might in Iraq
Iran Military Posturing
Iran's vice president has warned that the country could block the strait if sanctions are imposed on its exports of crude oil. France, Britain and Germany have proposed sanctions to punish Iran's lack of cooperation on its nuclear program.
The 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, and Frost noted that the Navy "maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities."
"We conduct maritime security operations under international maritime conventions to ensure security and safety in international waters for all commercial shipping to operate freely while transiting the region," she said.
Asked whether the fleet would be able to keep the strait open if Iran moved to close it, she said, "The U.S. Navy is a flexible, multi-capable force committed to regional security and stability, always ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation."
Frost was also asked whether keeping the strait open is part of the fleet's mandate.
She said it is "committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity. This is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region.
"The U.S. Navy, along with our coalition and regional partners, operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of high vigilance in order to ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce."
The French Foreign Ministry stressed that the waterway is an international strait.
"In consequence, all ships, whatever their flag, enjoy the right of passage in transit, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, and with the customary international maritime law," the ministry said.
Iran is holding a 10-day military exercise in an area from the eastern part of the strait out into the Arabian Sea. Western diplomats describe the maneuvers as further evidence of Iran's volatile behavior.[/quote]
Is this just dick waving or is this Iran trying to do something else? Either way, no wonder gas prices spiked yesterday...
[QUOTE=faze;33935285]Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/world/meast/iran-us-hormuz/index.html?hpt=hp_c1[/url]
Is this just dick waving or is this Iran trying to do something else? Either way, no wonder gas prices spiked yesterday...[/QUOTE]
If any leader in the Middle East so much as sneezes, gas prices will go up. Gas companies will use any excuse to raise prices.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;33935322]If any leader in the Middle East so much as sneezes, gas prices will go up. Gas companies will use any excuse to raise prices.[/QUOTE]
I agree with that, but here in Maryland, gas went up like 20 cents per gallon in a night, right around when this cock waving started.
Please not another war in that region. Let's see if we can go a decade without developed nations invading anything foreign.
[QUOTE=Clavus;33935936]Please not another war in that region. Let's see if we can go a decade without developed nations invading anything foreign.[/QUOTE]
Good luck with that.
If sanctions are imposed on Iran for being fuckwits and they blockade the Strait of Hormuz we'll have no choice but to move in and break it up. It's too important.
We can't NOT impose sanctions, that's the thing. Iran is throwing a hissy fit and threatening to fuck up the global economy even more, and they [b]cannot[/b] be allowed to do that.
Sovereignty should be honored, indeed, but if the crap choices of one country (contribute) mess up things for many-many others solely because this one country has a global trade transit hotspot on it's territory, I can see military intervention as a possibility. Scary...
Edit:
Have there ever been any attempts to make trade transit "bottlenecks" around the world international territory before? It would eliminate the possibilities of countries manipulating with global trade (short of limiting resource export).
Why is the US even there
[QUOTE=wanksta11;33936197]Why is the US even there[/QUOTE]
We're the world police, don't you know?
[QUOTE=wanksta11;33936197]Why is the US even there[/QUOTE]
To protect a massive trade route and/or shipping and commerce.
Also to dickwave, that's like half the point of a naval battlegroup
Iran is probably bluffing, would they really do that? They know it would be [url=http://imgkk.com/i/3_tj.jpg]fucking on chaps[/url] if they did
World police, world police
Coming to you to enforce some peace
Take your oil, every day
Look out, here come the usa...
oh man iran is crying again someone get him the bottle
[QUOTE=just-a-boy;33936192]
Have there ever been any attempts to make trade transit "bottlenecks" around the world international territory before? It would eliminate the possibilities of countries manipulating with global trade (short of limiting resource export).[/QUOTE]
Suez canal in Egypt, look how that ended up.
Don't they legitimately have the right to block their half of it?
And if the UAE agrees to it, wouldn't they have the right to blockade it altogether?
[QUOTE=just-a-boy;33936192]Sovereignty should be honored, indeed, but if the crap choices of one country (contribute) mess up things for many-many others solely because this one country has a global trade transit hotspot on it's territory, I can see military intervention as a possibility. Scary...
Edit:
Have there ever been any attempts to make trade transit "bottlenecks" around the world international territory before? It would eliminate the possibilities of countries manipulating with global trade (short of limiting resource export).[/QUOTE]
According to the article, it already is an international strait so Iran trying to blockade it would be illegal, although according to Wikipedia you have to enter Iranian waters to pass through.
Thing is, this would not only piss off every country who trying to import oil from that region, it's also going to piss off every country trying to export the oil as well - such as the key players in the Arab League. Iran have nothing to gain from it.
Uhm, I think that preventing a blockade of a vital trade route that could affect consumer prices and economies around the world is a perfect reason to deploy our military....
Ehh nah I'd rather everyone pay outrageous gas prices during an economical crisis. I mean what business is it of ours to deal with something that could actually affect us this time?
Well, I'm going to buy some jerry cans and fill em up, with the car.
[QUOTE=Xenocidebot;33937254]Don't they legitimately have the right to block their half of it?
And if the UAE agrees to it, wouldn't they have the right to blockade it altogether?[/QUOTE]
From what I can tell, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_passage]nope[/url]
[QUOTE=Xenocidebot;33937254]Don't they legitimately have the right to block their half of it?
And if the UAE agrees to it, wouldn't they have the right to blockade it altogether?[/QUOTE]
Why would the UAE agree to a blockade?
"Hey, why don't we make it really hard to export our main money spinner [b]and[/b] piss off all of the people we sell it to in the process?"
[QUOTE=smurfy;33937339]From what I can tell, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_passage]nope[/url][/QUOTE]
[URL="https://www.un.org/depts/los/doalos_publications/LOSBulletins/bulletinpdf/bulE24.pdf"]Iran didn't ratify or accede to that, though.[/URL] Neither did we. We acknowledge it exists but never consented to it.
[QUOTE=Camundongo;33937352]Why would the UAE agree to a blockade?
"Hey, why don't we make it really hard to export our main money spinner [b]and[/b] piss off all of the people we sell it to in the process?"[/QUOTE]
I have no idea, I'm just saying I don't see how the WE SHOULD SEND IN THE MILITARY approach makes sense. They're going to get into a pissing match with their neighbors if they try it, and if they somehow all agreed to do it, I'm not sure how we could legally justify breaking that up.
Build a canal through that tip of the UAE?
I feel like it's gonna be Iraq all over again, just without the WMD's, and we'll probably stay there for 20 years.
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;33937497]I feel like it's gonna be Iraq all over again, just without the WMD's, and we'll probably stay there for 20 years.[/QUOTE]
Difference being the size of the paramilitary force in the country is 11 million strong, vastly bigger than the combined active US forces...
[QUOTE=Xenocidebot;33937429][URL="https://www.un.org/depts/los/doalos_publications/LOSBulletins/bulletinpdf/bulE24.pdf"]Iran didn't ratify or accede to that, though.[/URL] Neither did we. We acknowledge it exists but never consented to it.
I have no idea, I'm just saying I don't see how the WE SHOULD SEND IN THE MILITARY approach makes sense. They're going to get into a pissing match with their neighbors if they try it, and if they somehow all agreed to do it, I'm not sure how we could legally justify breaking that up.[/QUOTE]
If they did team up then you would have problems, true, but they're not going to. Not that I think military intervention is really an option either. I don't think Iran will go through with it though because that'd be monumentally stupid.
Saudi Arabia thinks its silly and said they could supply us oil if Iran does this.
Lodesemone for Saudi if they do.
Iran would have to be batshit insane to close off a major trade route like that. The economic damage could be devastating, even to Iran itself, and it could very well create tensions with every power in the world, Russia and China most definitely included.
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;33937497]I feel like it's gonna be Iraq all over again, just without the WMD's, and we'll probably stay there for 20 years.[/QUOTE]
Iraq, just without the WMD's?
So you mean Iraq? I still don't see how we've forgiven them for that bullshit invasion.
The Iranian Navy's little skirmish with the US Navy didn't end too well for them in 1988, I doubt it will now.
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;33937497]I feel like it's gonna be Iraq all over again, just without the WMD's, and we'll probably stay there for 20 years.[/QUOTE]
That's quite possibility the worst assessment ever
Iran is [I]nothing[/I] like Iraq
[QUOTE=Camundongo;33937352]Why would the UAE agree to a blockade?
"Hey, why don't we make it really hard to export our main money spinner [b]and[/b] piss off all of the people we sell it to in the process?"[/QUOTE]
The blockade threat would double the price of oil, that's why.
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