Unrest in Iran

[Renegade7]

Possibly huge capitulation by Iranian government this year if it stands...

 

 

 

Iranian official signals possible suspension of morality police

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/04/iran-morality-police-suspended-mahsa-amini-protests/

[PokerPacker]

Keep going.  This is your chance to make big change.

[China]

Iranian patrol boat tried to temporarily blind US Navy ships in Strait of Hormuz, US says

 

An Iranian patrol boat tried to temporarily blind US Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz by shining a spotlight toward the vessels and crossing within 150 yards of them on Monday night, US Central Command said in a statement.

 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat acted in an “unsafe and unprofessional manner,” CENTCOM said, which violated international standards for safe maritime behavior.

The guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans and expeditionary sea base platform ship USS Lewis B. Puller deescalated the situation by using audible warnings and non-lethal lasers, according to CENTCOM. The ships were transiting through international waters in the strategic waterway when the incident occurred.

 

“This dangerous action in international waters is indicative of Iran’s destabilizing activity across the Middle East,” CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said in the statement.

“The Iranian vessel attempted to blind the bridge by shining a spotlight and crossed within 150 yards of the US ships – dangerously close, particularly at night,” the statement added.

 

The tense interaction at sea, though not uncommon between Iranian and US ships in the region, comes at a particularly fraught time in relations between the countries. The US has sharply condemned Iran’s crackdown on widespread protests against the regime and its morality police, while Iran’s Supreme Leader has blamed the US for the unrest. The US has also exposed and criticized Iran for providing armed drones to Russia which Russian forces have used in Ukraine.

 

IRGC vessels have occasionally attempted to intercept or harass US Navy and Coast Guard ships operating in the region. In the past, the incidents have prompted US ships to fire warnings shots at the IRGC vessels.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Iran navy seizes Marshall Islands oil tanker in Gulf of Oman

 

Iran’s navy seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday amid wider tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, the latest-such capture in a waterway crucial for global energy supplies.

 

The Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet. Satellite tracking data for the vessel from MarineTraffic.com showed it in the Gulf of Oman, just north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, on Thursday afternoon. It had just come from Kuwait and listed its destination as Houston, Texas.

 

The Advantage Sweet issued a distress call at 1:15 p.m. while in international waters as Iran seized the vessel, the Navy said.

 

“Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement. “Iran should immediately release the oil tanker.”

 

The Navy initially said Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized the vessel, but an American naval aircraft later confirmed that Iran’s navy captured the ship, 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins told The Associated Press.

 

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the seizure came after an “unknown ship collided with an Iranian vessel last night in the Persian Gulf, causing several Iranian crew members to go missing and get injured.” It did not identify the other ship involved in the alleged collision.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week, US Navy says

 

Iranian forces captured a foreign vessel on Wednesday, the second ship to be harassed and seized by the Middle Eastern country in a week, the U.S. Navy said.

 

The Niovi, a commercial oil tanker flying the Panama flag, was passing through the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman when it was overtaken by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN).

 

Approximately 12 members of the IRGCN swarmed and bordered the Niovi via fast-attack craft. The IRGCN then forced the crew to turn the ship around and sail back into Iranian territorial waters.

 

The Panama oil tanker was transiting from Dubai to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when it was captured.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Switchgear]

Have they adopted the Somalian model? We may have to start treating the Iranians like pirates.

 

The protests are still going on, but nothing is changing, sadly.

[China]

Iran Unveils 'Quantum' Device That Anyone Can Buy for $589 on Amazon

 

Last week, Iran’s military unveiled what it called “the first product of the quantum processing algorithm” of the Imam Khomeini Naval University of Nowshahr. During a ceremony at the university, the Islamic Republic’s military revealed a bit of electronics sealed under glass. It appeared to be a common development board, available widely online for around $600.

 

 

According to multiple state-linked news agencies in Iran, the computer will help Iran detect disturbances on the surface of water using algorithms. Iranian Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari showed off the board during the ceremony and spoke of Iran’s recent breakthroughs in the world of quantum technology.

The touted quantum device appears to be a development board manufactured by a company called Diligent. The brand “ZedBoard” appears clearly in pictures. According to the company’s website, the ZedBoard has everything the beginning developer needs to get started working in Android, Linux, and Windows. It does not appear to come with any of the advanced qubits that make up a quantum computer, and suggested uses include "video processing, reconfigurable computing, motor control, software acceleration," among others. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Iran tried to seize 2 oil tankers near Strait of Hormuz and fired shots at one of them, US Navy says

 

Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday, opening fire on one of them, the U.S. Navy said.

 

It said that in both cases, the Iranian naval vessels backed off after the U.S. Navy dispatched a guided missile destroyer to the scene, and that both commercial ships continued their voyages.

 

“The Iranian navy did make attempts to seize commercial tankers lawfully transiting international waters,” said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. “The U.S. Navy responded immediately and prevented those seizures.”

 

He said the gunfire directed at the second vessel did not cause casualties or major damage.

 

There was no immediate Iranian comment on the incidents.

 

The U.S. Navy said an Iranian naval vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged TRF Moss in the Gulf of Oman at around 1 a.m. The U.S. deployed the USS McFaul, a guided-missile destroyer, as well as as MQ-9 Reaper drone and a P-8 Poseidon patrol plane.

 

Three hours later, the U.S. Navy received a distress call from the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager more than 20 nautical miles off the coast of Muscat, the capital of Oman. The Navy said another Iranian naval vessel had closed within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of the tanker and had ordered it to stop.

 

The same U.S. destroyer sped toward the tanker at “maximum speed,” the Navy said in a statement. “Prior to McFaul’s arrival on scene, Iranian personnel fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons,” it said.

 

The U.S. Navy says Iran has seized at least five commercial vessels in the last two years and has harassed more than a dozen others. Many of the incidents have occurred in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all crude oil passes.

 

In April, masked Iranian navy commandos conducted a helicopter-borne raid to seize a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, footage of which was aired on Iranian state TV. Iran said the tanker was seized after it collided with another Iranian vessel but provided no evidence. In the past, Iran has seized commercial vessels to use as bargaining chips with the West.

 

Click on the link for the full article