This is Iran’s most explicit warning since telling ships it was closing the export route on Feb 28, a move that threatens to choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.

“The Strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze,” Mr Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.

Continue reading HERE

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/iran-vows-to-attack-any-ship-trying-to-pass-through-strait-of-hormuz?fbclid=IwY2xjawQVmH5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDrKpX2X61YLJW-kcU3w0onC_VG_NpuOcJEL1xdU6QqnFJ15drsDPvXDBI5I_aem_nJjMecbHm9E0AKyCQQveWg

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The fighting erupted overnight in Sistan and Baluchistan province when gunmen opened fire on Revolutionary Guard posts in Rask and Sarbaz towns and a coast guard station in Chahbahar city, some 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, the agency said.

The gunmen took several civilians hostage at two sites and some of the assailants wore suicide vests, state TV reported. Shootouts ensued before security forces gained control of the three areas.

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Source: https://apnews.com/article/iran-armed-deadly-clash-baluchistan-5797a4212ef64f6ca045af93e17731fb

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As the military conflict between both countries becomes progressively brutal and more public, the tit-for-tat has involved strikes against infrastructure and personnel, as well as unprecedented aerial drone interceptions.

In recent years, Iran has made extensive use of armed drones in attacks throughout the Middle East. According to Israeli government sources, Iran is using drone attacks on Gulf targets staged by its proxies as a means of pressuring the United States and others into easing demands concerning its nuclear program.

Intelligence gathered in Israel shows that Iran acts to obscure its part in the attack by refraining from carrying out attacks itself, instead using proxy groups in the countries where it has set up drone bases, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Shi’ite militias in Iraq.

March 2021
Israeli jets intercept Iranian drones

The Israeli military announced that Israeli Air Force jets intercepted two Iranian drones en route to Israel in March 2021. The drones were monitored throughout their flight and intercepted by two F-35 aircraft before entering Israeli airspace “in coordination with neighboring countries,” the statement said.

The drones were launched from Iranian territory and carried firearms and ammunition, in an attempt to test whether military equipment could be smuggled to Gaza via UAV, Israeli officials estimated.

January 4, 2022
Israel shoots down Hezbollah drone

The Israeli military shot down a Hezbollah quadcopter that crossed into Israel from Lebanon. The IDF said it had been “monitored by our soldiers throughout the incident.”

Israel Defense Forces@IDF
We downed a Hezbollah drone that crossed from Lebanon into Israel today. The drone was monitored by our soldiers throughout the incident.

The IDF will continue to operate against any attempt by terrorists to violate Israeli sovereignty.

February 13, 2022
Iranian drone downed over Iraq

Iraqi media reported that a U.S. Air Force F-16 downed an Iranian drone over Iraq, with Israeli broadcaster Kan asserting that the Iranian UAV had been tasked with striking “Israeli targets in the Middle East.”

February 14, 2022
Alleged Israeli strike destroys Iranian drone fleet

An aerial attack in Iran last month caused heavy damage to the country’s drone network, with several estimates saying that hundreds of drones were destroyed. According to foreign reports, six Israeli drones struck a base in western Iran.

Tehran blamed Israel for the attack, but Israel has not admitted responsibility. Neither country had even mentioned the attack until it was reported for the first time on Sunday by the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen.

The New York Times later reported that some U.S. officials said the attack was has been carried out by Israeli operatives stationed in Iraq. According to another official, the site was Iran’s main manufacturing and storage plant for military drones.

February 18, 2022
Hezbollah drown enters Israeli airspace

A Hezbollah drone eluded early-detection systems to enter Israeli territory. It photographed several locations in the country’s north before returning to Lebanon allegedly untouched, according to a subsequent report by a Lebanese newspaper with close ties to Hezbollah.

The report in Al-Akhbar said the Israel Defense Forces were taken by surprise by what it called a “radio-controlled aircraft,” setting off sirens in the north. According to the Al-Akhbar report, both an Iron Dome missile fired at the drone and an F-16 fighter jet failed to intercept it, as did a subsequent attempt by Apache helicopters.

In an apparent warning to Hezbollah, Israeli warplanes later flew at low altitude over Beirut.

Astro@EyesonSouth
Hassan drone penetrated high-frequency & accurate sensor systems such as ADS monitoring system & overcame SIGNIT signal detection systems and bypassed the latest most advanced of these systems that hunts low-flying drones(Sky Dew).

March 8 2022
Israeli strike in Syria kills two Revolutionary Guard members

Two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were killed in a (non-drone) airstrike strike near Damascus, Iranian media reported, prompting the Iranians to vow to “make the Zionist regime pay for this crime.”

March 13, 2022
Iran launches ballistic missiles at ‘Israeli strategic centers’ in Iraq

As many as 12 missiles were fired toward the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, in an attack subsequently described by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a strike against Israeli “strategic centers.”

Al Mayadeen cited Iranian sources as saying that the attack was not retaliation for Israel’s alleged killing of the two Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, but rather for other Israeli operations against Iranian targets. It stated that the ballistic missiles were fired at Mossad headquarters in Irbil, killing four Israeli officers and wounding seven. It declined to provide any proof for its assertions of Israeli casualties or a Mossad presence in the city.

Officials in Iraq and the United States gave different accounts of damage. A second U.S. official said there was no damage and no casualties at any U.S. government facility, but Iraqi officials said several missiles had hit the new, currently unoccupied U.S. consulate building.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/TIMELINE-israel-iran-drone-war-goes-ballistic-a-timeline-1.10678441

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In an interview aired Wednesday by the semi-official Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Major General Hossein Salami discussed recent developments he argued belied Israel’s weakness.

These included an apparently ongoing series of cyberattacks affecting dozens of Israeli companies that began late last year; the alleged execution of suspected Israeli spies in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil in January; explosions that rattled a petro Israeli port city of Haifa in February; last month’s missile factory blast at a missile site; and landing of a Syrian anti-air missile near the Dimona nuclear reactor—as well as a recent fire that broke out by Ben Gurion International Airport.

Salami said that “all the vulnerabilities of the Zionist regime were demonstrated” over the past few months and that after 10 incidents, an eleventh could follow.

“Their biggest weakness is that any tactical action could bring about a strategic defeat to them,” Salami said, “meaning that just a single operation can ruin this regime.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami speaks during a pro-government rally in the capital Tehran’s central Enghelab Square on November 25, 2019. ATTA KENARE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The remarks came as indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran continued to play out in Vienna with the aim of coordinating Washington’s return to a multilateral nuclear deal abandoned in 2018 by former President Donald Trump. The two sides are attempting to overcome an impasse over the terms of a potential reentry by President Joe Biden‘s administration and Tehran’s reimplementation of uranium enrichment limits it suspended as a result of non-compliance by Western parties to the accord.

Many are expected to represent more conservative elements, and even former military officials skeptical of Iran’s strained diplomacy with the United States and Europe.

Meanwhile, a shadowy conflict between Iran and Israel has continued to play out across the Middle East. Both sides have often blamed one another for unclaimed incidents such as attacks that appear to have struck ships owned by both countries in the Red Sea in recent months.

Iran has also accused Israel of clandestine efforts to disrupt the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, such as the assassination of a leading nuclear scientist in November and a blackout that struck a key facility in Natanz last month. Iranian officials have argued their nuclear program was never intended to produce a weapon of mass destruction, but Israeli officials doubt this and oppose a U.S. return to the nuclear agreement.

At home, Israel was also undergoing political tensions and the country struggled to form a government after the fourth election in just two years was held in March. Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s failure to form a governing coalition on Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin tapped the Israeli leader’s rival, Yair Lapid, to attempt to pull together a new government, a development that would end the tenure of the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history.

The contest unfolds as clashes continue between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem. The strife erupted in recent days amid Israeli efforts to oust Palestinian residents in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the disputed city’s occupied east and replace them with Israelis claiming to have lived there prior to the establishment of Israel and the subsequent war with Arab states that broke out in 1948.

The case has received international attention, including from Iran, which backs Palestinian claims to territory settled prior to Israel’s establishment. Tehran also has ties to militias operating in the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, from which a wave of rocket attacks was launched last month.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/top-iranian-general-says-israel-could-defeated-single-operation-1589062?piano_t=1

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Hossein Salami – Reuters

The commander-in-chief of the Iranian military said Israel would soon “disappear”, while touting Iran’s efforts to bolster the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s “plan to defeat the Zionist regime”.

Major General Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, addressed mourners at the funeral of Mohammed Hejazi, deputy commander of the Quds Force, Monday morning.

Brigadier General Hejazi died Sunday of a “heart condition” the Iranian military said, without providing additional details. Hejazi was appointed deputy commander of the Quds Force in January 2020, following the assassination of Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.

According to a report by Iran’s Fars agency, Salami eulogized Hejazi Monday, dubbing him a “martyr”, amid speculation Hejazi’s death may have been the result of a targeted assassination.

Salami praised Hejazi for his work with the Hezbollah terrorist organization and the group’s efforts “to defeat the Zionist regime.”

“Together with our Hezbollah brothers, he laid the groundwork for destroying the rotten Zionist regime.”

Salami warned Israel not to celebrate Hejazi’s death, saying the Jewish state would soon “disappear”, wiped away by “nation you expelled”.

“We tell the Zionists, I heard that they are happy,” said Salami. “But we tell the Zionists that your happiness is very fleeting. You will disappear at the hands of the nation you expelled from their land.”

“Do not be happy, we will continue on our way and no one will leave this front and the trenches are always full of men who do not have armor behind them and swords have been drawn from the hands of the youth of the Islamic nation. The annihilation of all the devils of the world who stand against Islam will continue.”

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/304610

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Tangsiri said Iran had full control of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz that leads into it. Closing the strait would be the most direct way of blocking shipping.

“We can ensure the security of the Persian Gulf and there is no need for the presence of aliens like the U.S. and the countries whose home is not in here,” he said in the quote, which appeared in English translation on Tasnim.

He added, “All the carriers and military and non-military ships will be controlled and there is full supervision over the Persian Gulf. Our presence in the region is physical and constant and night and day.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most senior authority in the Islamic Republic, said last month that he supported the idea that if Iran is not allowed to export oil then no country should export oil from the Gulf.

One-third of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Nextbigfuture opinion is that US will not recognize Iran’s control

The US will not recognize Iran’s control of the Strait.

If Iran tries to control US military ships then this would likely trigger a shooting conflict.

Iran’s forces versus US

Iran test-fired a ballistic missile last month. The test of an Iranian Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile coincided with a large-scale naval exercise by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces late last week involving over 50 small gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz to rehearse “swarm” tactics which could one day potentially shut down the vital waterway.

Iran has previously harassed US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, with the most notable case being Iran’s capture of 10 US Navy sailors in January 2016, who had drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems.

Iran has various anti-ship missiles. The Nasr-1 is a domestically-manufactured Iranian short range anti ship missile capable of evading radar. It has a range of about 35 kilometers (20 miles) It has the capability of destroying 1,500-tonne targets such as small warships like frigates. Nasr-1 missile can be launched from both inland bases and offshore military vessels, and is being modified to be fired from helicopters and submarines.

Iran has thousands of sea mines, torpedoes, advanced cruise missiles, regular-sized and mini-submarines, and its flotilla of small fast-attack boats.

When commanding CENTCOM between 2010 and 2013, now-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis developed a multinational plan to minimize disruptions to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz by preventing Iranian efforts to lay mines and systematically clear mines that have been deployed — assumed to be the major means to hinder traffic as it is difficult to sink a modern double-hull oil tanker by torpedo or missile attack. They would try to make larger paths through the minefields.

U.S. military planners believe that American and allied forces would defeat Iran if it attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz. The most optimistic planners believe U.S.-led forces could reopen the Strait within a few days while others think it could take up to three months to restore maritime traffic to normal levels.

Even in the optimistic scenario, an actual shooting war and conflict would spike oil over $100 per barrel even if a crisis was mostly resolved in days. In the short scenarios there is pipeline and other capacity and in the longer scenarios there are strategic reserves. A bigger crisis would be if a desperate Iran hit the Saudi Arabian Abqaiq oil processing facility. This would disrupt 7 million barrels per day until it was fixed.

There are US bases and US troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Turkey.

The US 5th Fleet is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf with carriers, ships, strike aircraft, sailors and marines and has been involved in periodic confrontations with Iranian forces.

According to the US Navy, from January 2016 to August 2017 there was an average of 2.5 interactions per month between US troops and Iranian maritime forces.

Iran’s navy mounted a locally-built advanced defensive weapons system on one of its warships for the first time.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi reiterated that coastal and sea testing of the short-range defense Kamand system was concluded successfully. The system will be mounted on a second ship soon.

SOURCES- Dailyoilbulletin, Reuters, PressTV

Source: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/08/iran-claims-it-now-controls-the-straits-of-hormuz-and-this-could-trigger-us-iran-war.html

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