How Outlaw Countries Start Wars: "Iran seizes Emirati oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz"

Alternate headline, "Iran Grabs Foreign Ship, Lies About It As It Seeks to Stir Up Trouble"

Telegraph reports Iran seizes Emirati oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz:

Iran has seized a foreign tanker it says was smuggling fuel in the Gulf. The vessel, which state TV claimed was smuggling fuel to foreign customers, was intercepted south of Iran's Larak Island in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and its 12 crew members arrested.

The seized vessel - an oil tanker based in the United Arab Emirates traveling through the Strait - drifted off into Iranian waters and stopped transmitting its location over two days ago.

US officials have expressed suspicion that the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Riah had been seized in Iranian territorial waters.

Iran said it responded to a distress call from the Riah, based in the UAE, and came to its rescue. But no other nation has reported receiving a distress call from the Riah, which was seen being escorted by Iranian naval vessels after the transponder that automatically reports its location was switched off on Saturday.

Iran's Fingers in the Many Middle East Puppets

Interesting insight into Iran's proxies in the various Middle East messes from Amir Toumaj at The Long War Journal's IRGC commander discusses Afghan militia, ‘Shia liberation army,’ and Syria:

Discussing Iran’s military commitments, Falaki noted that Iran’s proxies are fighting on three major fronts: Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

“One front of this army is in Syria, the other in Iraq, and another in Yemen,” he stated.

The first two are well known, though the claim about Yemen reflects the IRGC’s ultimate goal more than facts on the ground. The Houthis are known to be militarily and politically supported by the IRGC, though the Guard may not exercise full control over the Houthis. The IRGC’s objective is to use the Houthis as a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula, on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. The suspicion of the Houthis being a full Iranian proxy is precisely the reason the Saudis and allies have launched a war in Yemen.

The Houthis, however, are not IRGC proxies like the Fatemiyoun and Iraqi militias. Houthi leaders have publicly complained about IRGC claims of full support. A senior Houthi official in March lashed out at a senior IRGC commander who claimed that the Guard would support the Houthis anyway it could, criticizing Tehran for “exploiting” the Yemeni file.

The Houthis exercise some measure of independence, and do not presently appear to be inclined to serve as the IRGC’s proxy in a perpetual fight against Saudi Arabia, as noted by Yemen scholars.

What is clear is the IRGC’s strategy to exploit the war in Yemen, primarily to be a thorn in Saudi Arabia’s side. They want to perpetuate the perception that Houthis are full Iranian proxies to elicit harsher Saudi reactions. The IRGC hopes that the continuation of conflict will leave the Houthis no choice but to fight and fully embrace the IRGC in order to survive.

Recommended reading, just like Long War Journal always is.

Good thing we have paid so much money to Iran to advance their peaceful intentions.

Sometime it seems we forget how relatively small an area we are dealing with in the Middle East. Here's a nice U.S. government map I liberated from here that might help put things in some perspective:

Fun with Iran: Some Iranian Republican Guard Navy "General" Says "US Terrified by IRGC's Deployment in Persian Gulf"

Hot off the steaming presses of the Iraninan state-controlled media site Farsnews comes this howler of a story:

The US forces deployed in the Persian Gulf are afraid of the presence

of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in the same waters, a senior commander said, adding that the IRGC enjoys full intelligence supremacy and might in the region.
"The IRGC's might and power has grown to the extent that the Americans are terrified when they come across our vessels and this powerful presence exists in the sea, sky, space and land," Commander of the IRGC Navy's Third Zone Brigadier General Mansour Ravankar told FNA on Wednesday.

Noting that the IRGC Navy uses all its defensive capacities, vessels and quick-reaction forces to defend the country, he underlined the IRGC's full intelligence superiority in the region.

"The IRGC Navy is present in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz region with full power," General Ravankar said.

In relevant remarks in March, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi underlined Iran's deterrence power, and said 100 IRGC vessels are always deployed in the Persian Gulf to confront any threats.

"100 IRGC vessels are present in the Persian Gulf round the clock everyday and the Americans see our vessels everywhere they look," Fadavi said, addressing a gathering in the Central province of Isfahan.

He said the US has come to the conclusion that any action against the Islamic Revolution will be rather harmful than serving its interests, "therefore, they don’t dare to take any action and this shows the Islamic Revolution's deterrence power which is increasing everyday".

Not sure "terrified" is exactly the right word, but so it goes.

Meanwhile, there is the obligatory report of the Iranian Navy chasing pirates (which no other country is reporting seeing) from attacks on Iranian shipping:

Alborz (AP photo)

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced that the country's 40th flotilla of warships has repelled pirates' attack on an Iranian ship in free waters after fierce clashes.
"On Saturday, 7 pirate boats attacked an Iranian ship but they received the crushing response of the 40th fleet of warships," Sayyari said on Monday.

The Iranian Navy's 40th fleet of warships left Bandar Abbas port, in Southern Hormuzgan province, for the international waters on April 2 to protect the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against pirate attacks.

The Navy's 40th fleet, comprising Tonb logistic warship and Alborz destroyer, is tasked with conducting anti-piracy patrols in the high seas and the Gulf of Aden.

Yawn. The names change, the baloney does not.

By the way, Alborz recently celebrated its 45th anniversary since its 1971 commissioning. Congrats, old timer!

As for Tonb, here's a video of it joining the Iranian fleet in 2015:

Iran: Grand Scale Press Puffery

Iranian press releases concerning their military capabilities never cease to amaze - much like the lurid covers of the lamented World Weekly News - the simple absurdity of the puffed up claims is, if nothing else, captivating.

For example, here's a interesting story: PressTV - Iran Navy plans to expand presence near South Pole

Iran’s Navy has launched plans to extend its presence in the international waters near the South Pole, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says.

Iran wants to visit the polar bears!

“We have the capability to hoist Iran’s flags in different regions from the North Pole to the South Pole and we are preparing plans for presence near the South Pole,” Sayyari said on Friday.

Well, since the South Pole sits on top of a rather large land mass, covered with ice 2700 meters (9000 ft) deep, the Iranian Navy must have some really special ships.

If he means Iran has ships that can sail off the coast of Antarctica, so do the clowns of Whale Wars, and pretty much every other sea-going county in the world. All of which points out how modest these plans are, I suppose. Might as well announce plans to go to the grocery store. As far as I can tell, there is no one standing in their way.

The real question is why the Iranians would want to make the effort to go to polar regions. For that, I have no answer, unless it's "because they are there."

Of course, the Iranians also plan to expand their force to provide protection for the U.S. coast by patrolling the Atlantic, though they seem to couch it in different terms:

Earlier this month, Sayyari said Iran aims to put warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "within the next few years." He also said Iran's navy would be "present anywhere in international waters in order to safeguard the Islamic Republic's interests."

Portions of the Iranian Navy

We know it is "peaceful" because they keep reassuring us that is the case:

Tehran has repeatedly clarified that its military might is merely based on the nation's defense doctrine of deterrence and poses no threat to other countries.

So, if they are not a threat, they must be planning to put a force off our coast in international waters to lend us a hand in patrolling the sea lanes of commerce to keep them open for free commerce between nations of good will . . . .

The Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Guard Corps Navy also likes to provide tales of their heroic prowess to gullible minds. Here's an example of a joint press release from the IRGCN itself:

Iran keeps a watchful eye on naval moves of the enemies in the region and is fully informed of all their military actions due to its intelligence supremacy over the enemies, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said.

"We have good intelligence and security supremacy over enemies' moves in the Persian Gulf given our modern and advanced equipments, and our operational and intelligence patrols deep into the Persian Gulf have increased the capability," Commander of the IRGC's Second Naval Zone General Ali Razmjou told reporters in Iran's Southern port city of Bushehr.

He said that the Persian Gulf has become "an unconquerable stronghold" for Iran, but at the same time noted that Iran's military capabilities are only meant to promote the country's deterrent power.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari had also earlier this week stressed Iran's intelligence supremacy over US moves in the region, and noted that Iran is well informed of the details of the US naval moves in the region.

Do they know about this?

"We are well aware of the exact number and the position of the US surface vessels, aircrafts, submarines and minesweeping warships in the region," Sayyari underscored on Friday.

You know, for a peace loving country the Iranians seem to have lots of "enemies."

"Intelligence supremacy." Snort.

Crazy Stealth Guided Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles Fresh From Iran

Steeljaw has been having a little fun with the wild and crazy Iran Not-So-Republican Guards and their recent announcement, here, of a new wonder weapon - "IRGC Mass-Producing Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles":

"The IRGC's smart ballistic missiles are now in mass-production and this type of missiles can hit and destroy targets with high-precision," Jafari told reporters in a news conference here in Tehran on Monday.

"These new missiles enjoys supersonic speed and cannot be tracked or intercepted by enemy," the commander said, adding that missiles can hit targets 300km away with high-precision.
***
Elsewhere, Jafari also announced that the IRGC has just finished designing and developing long-range passive radars and will soon start production, adding that this new radar system covers within a 1,100km-radius.

Galen Wright of the blog Arkenstone has a post up analyzing the possible use of tactical ballistic missiles as anti-ship missiles. Might be worth a look.

As for the claims of stealth, accuracy and all that . . .

The point? I dunno, why would the IRGC be interested in threatening ships in the Arabian Gulf?

Iran: "Stealth" Flying Boats Join IRGC Force As Squadron

A little (okay, much) overlap in the following videos showing Iran's latest asymmetric weapon system being deployed by the Iranian Republican Guard (IRGC):





In Western terms, these might be called "targets."

However, the Iranian Press TV report:

Iran takes the design and manufacturing of domestic-built military hardware to a new level by delivering stealth flying boats to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

"Bavar 2," is a radar-evading fixed-wing seaplane capable of patrol and reconnaissance missions. At least 11 flying boats joined the IRGC fleet on Tuesday after an official ceremony.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said the new delivery was in line with the country's efforts to boast regional security.

"Equipping the country's Naval and Armed forces with advanced and modern weaponry will bolster the stability and security of the region and play an effective role in consolidating Iran's deterrent power," a statement on the Defense Ministry's website quoted Vahidi as saying.

The country has finished several major defense projects this year, despite several rounds of UN Security Council sanctions targeting Iranian military and financial sectors over Western allegations that Tehran is following a military nuclear program.

Iran will soon unveil and launch the second generation of Jamaran destroyers, Sina class frigates as well as a new generation of submarines, Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi announced last Wednesday.

In August, the Iranian Navy was equipped with four more domestically-made stealth Ghadir class mini-submarines.

And, actually, these mini-wing in ground thingies have been mocked before here.

UPDATE: Of course, one question for the IRGC is - suppose your initial stealthy attack doesn't send your hated enemy to the sea floor? And you lose almost all of your boats and WIGs. What's your follow up?

Just asking . . .

Memo to fleet. Order some more 20mm ammo and a few more Hellfires. Suicide attacks en masse are back in fashion for the IRGC.

And you might wanna rustle up a AC130-like version of the Osprey. Just for fun.

Iranians at Sea: Swarm Attacks (revisited)

In light of the Iranian Republican Guard announcement about new, high speed missile firing targets boats, here's what I wrote in September 2007 in Iran's Swarm Attack Tactics in the Strait of Hormuz:

You might have missed this article on Iran's 1000 boat "swarm force" stationed near the Strait of Hormuz...:

The U.S. Navy has determined that Iran has amassed a fleet of fast patrol boats in the 43-kilometer straits. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for strategic programs, leads the effort.

At this point, officials said, IRGC has deployed more than 1,000 FPBs in and around the straits. The vessels, armed with cruise missiles, mines, torpedoes and rocket-propelled grenades, are up to 23 meters in long and can reach a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. ***
"This marks the implementation of Iran's swarm program, where dozens of armed speed boats attack much larger naval vessels from all sides," an official said.
***
IRGC swarming tactics envision a group of more than 100 speedboats attacking a target, such as a Western naval vessel or a commercial oil tanker. They said 20 or more speedboats would strike from each direction, making defense extremely difficult.
***
"We have devised various tactics and other ways of coping," U.S. commander Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said. "You just don't get 1,000 or 500 or even 20 of anything under way and tightly orchestrated over a large body of water to create a specific effect at a specific time and specific place. They have their own challenges.''

Wait, they won't just magically appear all around a carrier battle group all at once? Even with their incredible Iranian stealth attack ground effect boat/planes?

More on "swarm" tactics and on the Iranian stealth effort here under the title of "Iran's Doctrine of Asymmetric Naval Warfare" -

Swarming tactics are not new; they have been practiced by land armies for thousands of years. Such tactics require light, mobile forces with substantial striking power, capable of rapidly concentrating to attack an enemy from multiple directions and then rapidly dispersing.

Iranian naval swarming tactics focus on surprising and isolating the enemy’s forces and preventing their reinforcement or resupply, thereby shattering the enemy’s morale and will to fight. Iran has practiced both mass and dispersed swarming tactics. The former employs mass formations of hundreds of lightly armed and agile small boats that set off from different bases, then converge from different directions to attack a target or group of targets. The latter uses a small number of highly agile missile or torpedo attack craft that set off on their own, from geographically dispersed and concealed locations, and then converge to attack a single target or set of targets (such as a tanker convoy). The dispersed swarming tactic is much more difficult to detect and repel because the attacker never operates in mass formations.

During the Iran-Iraq War, the Pasdaran navy used mass swarming tactics; as a result, its forces proved vulnerable to attack by U.S. naval and air power. Because of this, it is unlikely that such tactics would be used for anything but diversionary attacks in the future. In today’s Iranian naval forces, mass swarming tactics have largely given way to dispersed swarming.

Dispersed swarming tactics are most successful when attackers can elude detection through concealment and mobility, employ stand-off firepower, and use superior situational awareness (intelligence), enabling them to find and engage the enemy first. This accounts for a number of trends in Iranian naval force development in the past two decades. The first is the acquisition and development of small, fast weapons platforms—particularly lightly armed small boats and missile-armed fast-attack craft; extended- and long-range shore- and sea-based antiship missiles; midget and diesel attack submarines (for intelligence gathering, covert mine laying, naval special warfare, and conventional combat operations); low-signature reconnaissance and combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); and the adaptation of the Shahab-3 medium-range surface-to-surface missile armed with a cluster warhead reportedly carrying 1,400 bomblets, for use against enemy naval bases and carrier battle groups.

Iran has also sought to improve its ability to achieve surprise by employing low-observable technologies (such as radar-absorbent paints), strict communications discipline, stringent emissions control measures, passively or autonomously guided weapons systems (such as the Kowsar series of television-guided antiship missiles), and sophisticated command-and-control arrangements. To support its naval swarm tactics, Iran has encouraged decentralized decisionmaking and initiative, as well as autonomy and self-sufficiency among naval combat elements.

Dispersed swarming? Adm Cosgrove has it right - a coordinated attack is difficult to conceal and an uncoordinated attack can lead to forces being defeated seriatim.

For some thoughts on the effectiveness of other "super" weapons, Galrahn has a good post here.

Picture of captured Iranian Boghammer boat in San Diego Harbor from here as is the Iranian Boghammer action photo which bears the following caption on the Warboats site:

Iranian Boghammer from "Operation Earnst Will." Note on the bow the box is 107mm rocket launchers and also carried 51 cal on stern, plus RPGs & SAAM missles.

UPDATE: Map of Strait of Hormuz liberated from someplace else. It purports to show Silkworm missile ranges in the area.

To reiterate, it's really hard to hide 20 or 30 or 100 boats getting underway and trying to sneak around in an area like the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Faster boats don't add much to the picture - except they make faster fireballs flaming across the water.

However, there is some interesting discussion of "swarming tactics" at the Canadian Naval Review that points out a few successes in special circumstances (HMS Cornwall was in a maneuver bind when the IRGC went after her small boat crews, for example, or the famous "victory" by a swarm brought by a U.S. Marine general in a training exercise). By the way, "victories" like that are why we do training exercises in the first place.

 UPDATE: More here:

The Iranians used small speedboats extensively within the Gulf and the Strait throughout the 1980s Tanker War with Iraq, inflicting damage on vessels with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and machine guns. During the War, Iran often used the boats in shallower, coastal waters, where the boats could swiftly attack and then hide among the "multitude of islands, islets and coral reefs."  Iran also used small boats to lay mines with a small, crude onboard crane.

Tactically, Iran commonly tried "mass swarming tactics" to attack using large numbers of small boats simultaneously.  The largest of these attacks allegedly involved over forty individual boats. These "mass swarm" attacks proved extremely vulnerable to U.S. air power during the Tanker War.  This susceptibility may be one of the major factors causing the IRGC to retreat from a planned attack on Kuwaiti oil infrastructure in October 1987 in the face of a Saudi/U.S. show of air and sea strength. footnotes omitted)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Phil Ewing of the Navy Times "The Scoop Deck" captures the essence of the Iranian claims with his posts Iran’s massive armada ("That means that Iran has the largest navy in history by an enormous margin — so many combat vessels that you could walk their decks from Bandar Abbas to Doha without getting your feet wet.") and Swarm Warning ("Action movie directors are encouraged to make a summer blockbuster that includes Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobras defending a Navy strike group against a small-boat swarm attack. Because that would be epic.").

Troubled am I. Not.

However, if Hollywood needs script advice and a handsome old guy to play the tough but kindly American admiral . . . my email address is over on the right.

Iran: Republican Guard Commander Brags About Iran's "Fastest in World" Armed Speed Boats

60 knot missile armed speed boats? Yes, of course. Iran's got the fastest in the world, according to the chief yapper in charge of the Republican Guards here:

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said that speed boats, specially the newly mass-produced missile-launching vessels, have granted high mobility and power to the IRGC Navy and made it a unique force in the world.


"As regards high-speed missile-launching vessels, no country in the world enjoys such a power (that Iran has)," Fadavi said, addressing a ceremony held to mark inauguration of the production lines of two types of new speed vessels.

"We emphasize that we have gained a unique power in this field of naval defense," Fadavi went on saying.

Admiral Fadavi further compared the high speed of the Iranian vessels and the IRGC Navy's high mobility with the US Navy, and said, "US warships currently have a maximum speed of 31 knots while the Iranian vessels can traverse twice as fast on average."

Just like the old U.S. PT boats, I bet they have really nice wakes. I also bet that the boats can't out run 20mm cannon projectiles.

Iran Announces Revolutionary Guard Torpedo Boats

Reported as Torpedo launcher boats join IRGC fleet:

Introducing 12 Zolfaqhar class speedboats to its naval fleet, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns against the inspection of Iranian vessels.

IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi announced on Tuesday that the Corps also plans to mass produce improved models based on the record holding speedboat, Bladerunner 51, by 2011.

The Iranian speedboat will be capable of launching missiles and torpedoes, and sailing at a speed of 70 knots (82 mph).

"We acquired the boat from the British and what worries the Americans is that we have equipped it with military gear," IRNA quoted Admiral Fadavi as saying.

"By 1390 [Iranian calendar] (2011) it will be mass produced and delivered to the IRGC Naval Forces," he added.

The commander also warned that Iran would not tolerate any inspections of ships heading to or leaving from Iran by foreign countries.

"The Islamic Republic has authority in the Persian Gulf and we will retaliate against any [aggressive] move," said Rear Admiral Fadavi.

These are not "frigates" unless you are an Iranian.

Some discussion about the Bladerunner 51 thingie here. And an earlier post on that same topic here.

UPDATE: How to counter Iranian "frigates":

It goes faster and carries more bullets.

Another update:

This would do the job, too.