2 Tankers Damaged After Suspected Torpedo Attack Near Strait Of Hormuz; Oil Soars

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-13/2-tankers-damaged-after-suspected-torpedo-attack-near-strait-hormuz-oil-soars
Published: Jun 13, 2019
Author: Tyler Durden
Post Date: 2019-06-13 06:36:55 by Horse
Views: 321

Update: The Front Altair, the Marshall Islands flag tanker damaged in Thursday's attacks, has now sunk, according to Iranian television. Later, others denied these reports.

If accurate, the sinking could have a serious impact on oil prices and the environment, as the ship contained twice the amount of oil as Exxon-Valdez.

While some sources cited torpedoes as the weapons used in the attacks, another said officials suspected the use of a magnetic mine, similar to the devices used during last month's attacks.

* * *

And just like that...war with Iran is now almost assured.

Roughly one month after the US accused Iran of attacking Saudi- and UAE-docked oil tankers with naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, two oil tankers were attacked in the Sea of Oman (not far from where the prior attacks occurred), leaving both ships seriously damaged, Bloomberg reports.

So far, no casualties have been reported. The attack left one of the ships "ablaze and adrift," according to the Associated Press.

Sailors from both vessels were being evacuated as the US Navy rushed to assist.

The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said it received distress signals from the two ships roughly 50 minutes apart. As BBG reports, the incident will almost certainly "inflame" tensions between the US and its Arab allies on one hand, and Iran on the other.

The development will inflame already-rising political tensions in the region weeks after four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were sabotaged in what the U.S. said was an Iranian attack using naval mines. Tehran denied the charge.

The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said it received two separate distress signals at 6:12 a.m. and about 7:00 a.m. local time. "U.S. Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance," Commander Josh Frey, a spokesman, said. Iran said it has rescued 44 sailors.

Though a suspected aggressor has not yet been officially named, and an investigation into the cause of the incident has only just begun, the notion that Iran will be implicated looks extremely likely, even as Iranian ships helped rescue all 44 sailors who were aboard the two ships. Iran has already denied responsibility for the attack.

The manager of one of the tankers, the Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which had been carrying a cargo of methanol from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, said the vessel had been damaged as the result of "a suspected attack," though the manager added that the ship's cargo was secure.

"The hull has been breached above the water line on the starboard side," Bernhard Schulte GmbH & Co KG said in a statement on its website.

Another tanker, Norwegian-owned and Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair, sent a distress signal to the UAE port of Fujairah. It had loaded an oil shipment in Abu Dhabi not long before the incident. The ship was reportedly hit with three explosions.

Officials said it appeared the ships had been attacked with torpedoes. Another report cited officials saying three detonations had been heard.

The Front Altair was delivering a cargo of naphtha to Taiwan refiner CPC Corp, one company official said. The cargo was supplied by Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc.

Considering the involvement of the Japan-flagged vessel, the timing of the incident would be ironic. The suspected attacks unfolded as Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday, the second and final day of his visit, which was intended to de-escalate tensions in the region. There were no immediate details about what they discussed.

Oil prices are popping higher on the news, as the latest replay of one of history's most famous false-flag naval attacks, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which helped precipitate the Vietnam war, ratchets up tensions in the region. At one point, Brent crude was up as much as 4% to over $62 a barrel.

At the very least, the US military will use the attack as an excuse to continue its escalation of personnel in one of the most sensitive waterways for the global oil trade. One-third of all oil traded by sea passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Worst case, it looks like NSA John Bolton may have just gotten the excuse he needs to justify a full-scale invasion of Iran, which we imagine will soon be confirmed as being behind the attacks.

Post Comment   Private Reply

#1: ghostdogtxn    To: Horse (#0)

ghostdogtxn posted on 2019-06-13 07:08:38   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Horse    To: ghostdogtxn (#1)

The only war America and Israel combined could win against Iran would be nuclear. I wrote an article about that once. Maybe I should update it.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/06/warning-to-america-iran-reveals-new-air-defense-system-that-can-intercept-6-targets-at-once/

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/02/02/iran-hoveizeh-cruise-missile-test-successful/

https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=iran https://dronecenter.bard.edu/irans-drones/

Horse posted on 2019-06-13 07:12:48   Reply   Private Reply

#3: noone222    To: Horse (#0)

And just like that...war with Iran is now almost assured.

Yep, "just like that" ... let us not forget the Gulf of Tonkin false flag-non event.

noone222 posted on 2019-06-13 07:23:50   Reply   Private Reply

#4: Cynicom    To: Horse (#0)

And just like that...war with Iran is now almost assured.

Utter nonsense.

Shallow minded ignorance of world affairs.

Cynicom posted on 2019-06-13 07:35:11   Reply   Private Reply

#5: randge    To: Horse (#0)

And just like that...war with Iran is now almost assured.

No one wants the Straights blocked. Certainly no states with shores on the Gulf. That would instantly shatter their economies. European and Asian customers would be badly hurt. War is not on the table for the US either, fiscally, economically or politically.

Someone is shaking the tree. I wonder who that could be.

Update (11:30 utc, 7:30 AM blog time):

A few tweets Iran's Supreme Leader issued after his meeting with Prime Minister Abe today hint at a motive Iran might have to conduct something like the attack that happened today:

Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir - 9:36 UTC - 13 Jun 2019 We do not believe at all that the U.S. is seeking genuine negotiations with Iran; because genuine negotiations would never come from a person like Trump. Genuineness is very rare among U.S. officials.

.@AbeShinzo U.S. president met & talked with you a few days ago, including about Iran. But after returning from Japan, he immediately imposed sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry. Is this a message of honesty? Does that show he is willing to hold genuine negotiations?

After the nuclear deal, the first one to immediately breach the JCPOA was Obama; the same person who had requested negotiations with Iran & had sent a mediator. This is our experience, & Mr. Abe, know that we won’t repeat the same experience.

The keyword here is "petrochemical". The tankers hit today were loaded with naphta from the UAE and methanol from Saudi Arabia. Both are petrochemical products and not simply crude oil. Last Friday, June 7, the U.S. sanctioned all trade with Iran's biggest petrochemical producer. These sanction will seriously hurt Iran.

When the Trump administration began to sanction Iran's oil export last year, Iran announced new rules of the game. It said that it would retaliate against other Persian Gulf producers should Iran be unable to export its goods:

Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for oil shipments from the Middle East. The warning comes in response to the US, which is trying to cut off Iranian crude exports. ... Iran's supreme leader's senior adviser for international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati said his country will retaliate. “The most transparent, complete and prompt response was given by Mr [Hassan] Rouhani, the Iranian president, in his last trip to Europe. The response was clear: if Iran cannot export oil through the Persian Gulf, no-one will do this,” Velayati said, speaking at the Valdai discussion club in Russia. “Either everyone will export, or no-one,” he added.

Now we can apply the keyword Khamenei used today to these sentences: "if Iran cannot export petrochemical products through the Persian Gulf, no-one will do this". "Either everyone will export, or no-one."

That Iran might have this motive does not mean or prove that it is responsible for today's attack. Risking to sink two foreign tankers in international water is not what an otherwise cautious Iran would typically do. Someone else might have initiated it to blame it.

Still - no matter if Iran was involved - what Khamenei said is a very serious message that Abe, who Trump sent to Iran, will understand and communicate back to the White House.

Posted by b on June 13, 2019 at 05:37 AM | Permalink

www.moonofalabama.org/201...-on-ships-in-the-gulf-of- oman-are- not-in-irans-interest.html#comments

randge posted on 2019-06-13 08:54:09   Reply   Private Reply

#6: GreyLmist    To: noone222 (#3)

let us not forget the Gulf of Tonkin false flag-non event.


It should be remembered, too, that Daniel Ellsberg was on duty at the Pentagon the night those "SIGINT" messages came in that were "summarized" and mistranslated -- the same Daniel Ellsberg of the Classified Pentagon Papers theft later that endangered our Vietnam War personnel there and POWs too. His 2nd wife helped with his project to do that and her maiden name was Marx. Am not sure if she and her family were relatives of Karl Marx or not but she had a "New-Ager" sister affiliated with the "Thrive" movie and she was also affiliated with Dr. Jonas Salk of vaccine fame, who wrote some strange, "New-Agey" themed books that basically seem to be mostly about Darwinian population-management and control.

GreyLmist posted on 2019-06-13 14:37:03   Reply   Private Reply

#8: Horse    To: Rotara (#7)

He always has been a Zionist. I still prefer Trump to Hillary.

Horse posted on 2019-06-13 18:11:57   Reply   Private Reply

#9: ghostdogtxn    To: Horse (#2)

ghostdogtxn posted on 2019-06-13 23:41:54   Reply   Private Reply

#10: Horse    To: ghostdogtxn (#9)

I support Trump besides his ZIonism because I want him as President when the Civil War starts. His government won't last long but it will aid us when the Dollar Dies and the Nationwide Food Riots begin. Bankers won't be popular when the Dollar Dies and inflation cuts our ages in half. That's when the fun begins.

Horse posted on 2019-06-14 07:09:01   Reply   Private Reply

#11: ghostdogtxn    To: Horse (#10)

ghostdogtxn posted on 2019-06-14 08:08:11   Reply   Private Reply