The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy is heading to the Gulf of Aden, among other places:
Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday.
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), putting Israel and U.S. bases in the area within reach.
Iran said on May 14 it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect oil tankers from the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter against attacks by pirates but ISNA did not make clear whether they were among the six Sayyari talked about.
The irony of Iran joining the fight against piracy is not entirely lost on me, although, as the smallest of Iran’s armed forces the IRIN has earned a reputation for professional interaction with foreign forces – including our own Navy – in the Arabian Gulf. They are certainly more professional than the IRGCN, the regime goons and shakedown artists of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
Traditionally, the IRIN has existed more to patrol ports and internal sea lanes, while theoretically reserving a sea denial capability for the Straits of Hormuz. What precisely they’ll do once in the open ocean is very much an open question, although they’ll probably act more cautiously than their current leadership does when it speaks for them.
But who knows, what with nuclear NORKS acting up, and new tests of long range missiles, perhaps the IRIN is feeling saucy.
If so, they should take a quick history refresher.
“Mulluhcracy”? You gotta trademark that one, fer sure. Maybe they are just the pawn in the big man’s game. I don’t think the sight of the IRIN charging over the wavetops will fill those merchants with euphoric relief. Of course, as we all know, the Iranians would never think to torture a poor pirate should they be proficient enough to capture one. More like, “you guys need to come over the Straits of Hormuz, we can set you up with room and board for a percentage”. Oops, that’s another thread.
No surprise, this.
The last Iranian vessel the pirates confiscated held chemicals that at first made them sick and ended up killing most of them. Illicit chemicals for weapons, scheduled to be delivered to the Islamic jihad forces in Somalia, via that toilet Eritrea.
Iran can’t have the pirates seizing such vessels and exposing Iran’s chemical weapons violations and proxy-terrorism to the light of day!
People, such as the Mullahs, always probe. This is another probe for weakness, and alas, they will find it. When they find it, they will drive through it, just as other evil people have done in the past when they found weakness.
Will Obama stand up and do what is needed. We won’t know until the time comes, but I would bet against him doing what needs to be done.
Couldn’t SOMEBODY just let us know what types of vessels these 6 “ships” are? I mean 6 trawlers would not be something to be feared. Does the Iranian navy even have 6 seaworthy surface ships anymore, with a range outside 600 nms from homeport?
I mean that would actually be something, wouldn’t it? Having targets that far out to sea and sort of, mostly, in fact, completely vulnerable to US warships and Somali pirates with RPGs and all. Why I’ll bet the cruise ships’ fire hose brigades wouldn’t even make those 6 “ships” crews” flinch. Would they?
I’d love to see the Somali pirates and the Iranian navy do a little dance together before both get sent to the fish with Davy Jones.
Subsunk
Question on the picture. Isn’t that the Iranian frigate that Bud Langston hit with a Harpoon?
I might be wrong, but you have to love how Wiki tied the Vincennes shooting down the Iranian airliner to this.
What, Jim? The explanation seemed perfectly straightforward to me. Or do you have a problem with any criticism of the Navy?
Lex, thanks for the link, as I had never heard of this operation before. I’m very surprised considering the size of Praying Mantis.
Considering the date, I suppose the MSM was obsessing over the election and Iran-Contra then.