Apparently, when faced with a threat of force (in this case 30mm deck guns on a destroyer escort), their shitty little navy thought better of it.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/...efense-official-says

Go, Royal Navy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5Nbp_gmgQ

"Rule Britannia" !

Iran seems to be determined to make themselves Mr Regional Unpopular.

Getting the wrong side of the US AND UK in less than a month is never going to end well.

Who knows what machinations are going on inside their medieval and Macchiavellian minds?

With John Kerry, Diane Feinstein and Barack Obama advising them on foreign policy, what could possibly go wrong?

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
Iran seems to be determined to make themselves Mr Regional Unpopular.

Getting the wrong side of the US AND UK in less than a month is never going to end well.

Who knows what machinations are going on inside their medieval and Macchiavellian minds?

quote:

Who knows what machinations are going on inside their medieval and Macchiavellian ratlike minds?

Fixed

Iran is itching for a World War. A miscalculation or trigger happy officer on either side could be the spark. I applaud President Trump for his restraint in the drone attack. We are drawing nearer the brink. I surely hope Iran comes to their senses to see the reality of the situation. But I fear that at some point, absent an internal revolution, the West will have to fight them.

Superb rendition!

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5Nbp_gmgQ

"Rule Britannia" !

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
Iran is itching for a World War. We are drawing nearer the brink.

Iran is on the brink of their own destruction. No world war- Who'd side with them Hezbollah?

Hezbollah and Hamas. Maybe Iraq (being majority Shiite) and I wouldn't put it past Russia or China to support them just as a foil to the US.

quote:

Originally posted by 1gkek:
Hezbollah and Hamas. Maybe Iraq (being majority Shiite) and I wouldn't put it past Russia or China to support them just as a foil to the US.

You forgot Syria? I'm not seeing a world war here. I'm seeing some one threatening to burn down the house they're hiding in.

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
You forgot Syria? I'm not seeing a world war here. I'm seeing someone threatening to burn down the house they're hiding in.

Syria is a net drain on Iran. With all the internal combatants in Syria as well as Israeli bombs and missiles falling on IRGC targets in the country, Syria has been reduced to an anecdote. However, Russia will use Syria as their entry point to foil the US.

Iran is playing the old game - destabilize commerce through the gulf to ensure their security. As much as I'd like to kick Iran HARD right in the plumbs, I was glad to see the US change the rules of the game by responding as they expected. I'm curious what their next play is. The economic war (seized tanker in Gibraltar) may be more effective... for now.

They’re a chihuahua barking at everyone that walks by.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
They’re a chihuahua barking at everyone that walks by.

Yes and no. They can project military power in the gulf and do a lot of damage. They've got a metric shit-ton of missiles aimed at Israel and the other gulf states. Can they sustain a years long campaign without support? No. Will they get support from Russia and China? Maybe. Will the US (or any other regional power) attempt to invade and occupy Iran? Never.

Too bad they didn’t let the gunners get some practice. One wonders if turning their five gunboats into oil slicks might cause the Iranians to be a little more introspective...

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5Nbp_gmgQ

"Rule Britannia" !

That was glorious!

Rule Britannia!

quote:

Originally posted by 1gkek:

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
They’re a chihuahua barking at everyone that walks by.

Yes and no. They can project military power in the gulf and do a lot of damage.

True, but the damage they'd receive in response would be devastating. Even the mullahs have to understand this.

And the very second thing to go would be every site that had even a remote relationship to their nuclear ambitions--after we took out every last crumb of defence capability they have.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by 1gkek:

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
They’re a chihuahua barking at everyone that walks by.

Yes and no. They can project military power in the gulf and do a lot of damage.

True, but the damage they'd receive in response would be devastating. Even the mullahs have to understand this.

Yup.

We took out Saddam Hussein, and that regime denied having WMD.

Everything about Iran can be explained with playground logic:

Iran is like the kid who sees two other kids about to fight and pushes one antagonist into another then chants "fight! fight! fight!"

They know enough not a get into a straight-up fight with a world power like the US or UK, but they're happy to nibble around the edges to see what they can get away with. If they get caught they slink back into the shadows using either one of two excuses:

1) "It's his fault, not my fault," the proxy conflict: Iran uses a proxy like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Fedayeen in Iraq, or the Houthis in Yemen. If things go bad, it's not Iran's fault and it's not Iran's infrastructure that gets bombed.

2) "I wasn't really trying anyway." Why only five little Revolutionary Guard speedboats? Minimal investment and they can just shrug their shoulders and drive away if it doesn't work. What did they lose? 100 gallons of gas? But one day they come upon a tanker that isn't escorted, and it does work? The investment for time and money spent will be huge (at least initially). Also, with such a small investment, they can always blame it on some overzealous local commander and try to crawdad out of the situation politically.

its a shame that the Iranian boat wasn't sunk with all hands