^^^^^^^ From Google's AI:

Yes, Iranian authorities have actively blocked and jammed Starlink satellite internet services to combat its use as a communication lifeline during internet shutdowns. The regime employs sophisticated, potentially foreign-supplied radio-frequency jamming, GPS spoofing, and has criminalized the possession of terminals, with reports of up to 40,000 connections being cut.

Jamming and Interference: Iranian forces use "military-grade jamming" to disrupt signals, causing significant packet loss for users, say reports by IranWire.

Seizures and Penalties: The possession or trade of Starlink terminals has been severely cracked down on, with reports indicating penalties could be severe.

Operational Challenges: Despite jamming, Starlink has been used as a vital tool during severe, near-total nationwide internet blackouts (like that reported by NetBlocks).

High Costs & Risks: Due to the ban, terminals are heavily priced on the black market, sometimes exceeding $5,000, according to DW.com.

Government Action: Iranian authorities have actively targeted, confiscated, and disrupted these devices, describing them as tools of "US-Israeli operations," noted WIRED Middle East.

While the government has had success restricting the service, it remains a contested space in Iran's tight control of information.

Iran is claiming to have taken 2 ships now.
And have fired on several others.
Why are those attack boats not flaming oil slicks yet?
Surely we have helicopters that can intercept them.

Sounds like bullshit

I wish it was.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...mqeqmZB4lgfRtxt0Q%3D

Iran Attacks, Seizes 2 Container Ships After Trump Extends Ceasefire

Shipping came under Iranian fire in the Strait of Hormuz region after the United States prolonged a truce while maintaining maritime pressure on Tehran.

Iranian forces fired on two commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on April 22, UK maritime authorities said, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an extension of a fragile ceasefire with Tehran.

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an April 22 incident report that a container ship was attacked by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gunboat about 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, causing “heavy damage” to the vessel’s bridge. The crew was reported safe, with no fires or environmental impact.

In a separate incident, another cargo vessel was fired upon about 8 nautical miles west of Iran and forced to stop, UKMTO said. No damage or injuries were reported.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, in a post on X, described the first incident as an enforcement action against a ship that had ignored warnings, characterizing the attack as part of Tehran’s maritime control measures in the region.

Tasnim later reported that the IRGC had seized two vessels—MSC Francesca and Epaminondas—and escorted them to Iranian shores, marking the first time Iran had seized ships since the start of the war.

The two vessels were confirmed as “seized” by maritime traffic monitoring service TankerTrackers, which said in a post on X that a third ship—the Euphoria—also came under fire on Wednesday and may also have been seized.
Trump Extends Ceasefire, Keeps Blockade

The incidents came after Trump said Washington would extend its ceasefire with Iran, which had been due to expire on April 22, citing mediation efforts by Pakistan and internal divisions within Iran’s leadership.

He also said that the United States would continue enforcing a naval blockade targeting Iranian-linked shipping, describing Iran’s government as “seriously fractured” and unable to produce a “unified proposal” in response to U.S. demands. These demands include Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and relinquishing its stockpile of enriched uranium, part of the Trump administration’s effort to prevent Tehran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons.

Last week, the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, part of what officials described as a broader effort to disrupt Tehran’s oil exports and supply networks that bolster the regime’s fighting capacity amid the ongoing war.

U.S. forces have conducted several interdictions of vessels suspected of carrying sanctioned Iranian cargo.
U.S. Central Command said in an April 21 post on X that 28 vessels have been ordered to turn around or return to port since the blockade began.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that the blockade would extend beyond Iranian waters, with U.S. forces in other theaters such as the Pacific poised to “pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran,” with the intensified enforcement seeking to further quash Iran’s ability to wage war.
Iran Denounces Blockade, Threatens Retaliation

Iran has condemned the U.S. blockade as a violation of the truce and an act of war, while warning of retaliation.

“Blockading Iranian ports is an act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an April 21 post on X. He also criticized a recent move by U.S. forces to fire at an Iran-flagged ship’s engine room and seize it during its enforcement of the naval blockade.
“Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation,” Araghchi added. “Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.”

The IRGC has also warned that it is prepared to respond forcefully to any renewed hostilities.

Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have hit a roadblock, with Iran’s U.N. ambassador telling Iran’s state-run Tasnim News Agency that Tehran is prepared to resume negotiations with the United States only after Washington ends its naval blockade.

Iran has also argued that, under maritime law, the narrow geography of the Strait of Hormuz—less than 24 nautical miles across at its narrowest point—places much of the waterway within overlapping territorial seas of Iran and Oman, bolstering Tehran’s claim to impose navigation rules, including tolls.

The United States and various other nations have called for freedom of navigation through the strait, through which around one-fifth of global seaborne oil and gas normally transit.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Iran is claiming to have taken 2 ships now.
And have fired on several others.
Why are those attack boats not flaming oil slicks yet?
Surely we have helicopters that can intercept them.

If DJ Trump's history has shown us anything it's the old adage of:

"When ye fucketh around, ye is about to findeth out!"

Just give it a second, the Iranian Military is about to get their asses handed to them.

Buff needs to lay some carpet along the coast by the straight

Perhaps I am over-reacting, but turning parts of Iran where the real military operates into a radioactive glassine pit appeals to me.

Hegseth just fired the Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, wonder if the Daily Mail report of 34 ships slipping thru the blockade has anything to do with it.

Daily Mail

Hung Cao is now the acting Secretary of the Navy.

Link

“New acting Navy secretary ran unsuccessful bids for Congress

Taking over as acting secretary is Cao, who ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump's endorsement in the crowded Republican primary and gave a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Cao's biography includes fleeing Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared Vietnam's communist regime during the Cold War to the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.

During his one debate with Kaine, Cao criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates for service members as well as the military's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

"When you're using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that's not the people we want," Cao said from the debate stage. "What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars."

Trump and Hegseth have railed against DEI in the military, banning the efforts and firing people accused of supporting such programs.

When he ran for Congress in Virginia in 2022, Cao expressed opposition to aid for Ukraine during a debate against his Democratic opponent.

"My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. ... But right now we're borrowing $55 billion from China to pay for the war in Ukraine. Not only that, we're depleting our national strategic reserves," Cao said.

Cao graduated from the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, before attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

He was commissioned as a special operations officer and went on to serve with SEAL teams and special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring at the rank of captain, according to his Senate campaign biography.

Cao also earned a master's degree in physics and had fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Since becoming Navy undersecretary, Cao has championed returning to duty service members that refused a Biden-era mandate to take the COVID-19 vaccine.”

^^^ Our kinda guy!

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
Rest assured the Ukraine is there to help- Themselves.

What a shock. Who would have thought that a country might help another country, but also be acting in its own self interest at the same time.

The Gulf states have welcomed the help being offered by Ukraine. Why wouldn't they. The Ukrainians have basically a stalemate with the vastly superior Russian troop numbers. The Russians have been trying to conquer Ukraine for four years. What do they have to show for it? One million dead Russians, the disdain of most of Europe, and two more countries that have joined NATO, fearing a Russian invasion.

And yes, the Ukrainians are also acting in their own self interest. Several of the Gulf states are planning joint drone and missile manufacturing deals with Ukraine.


The Russians are not our friends is an understatement. They are responsible directly and indirectly for the deaths of a lot of Americans.

^^^^^
Good post Fed.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I don't understand the BBC'S use of "redundancies". It seems Iran is experiencing a lack of redundancies:

The Brits use the same words to have a very different meaning. When they say “I bought a rubber.” they mean they bought an eraser.

Where Billy the American might come home and say, “I was laid off.”, Fred the Brit would come home and say, “I was made redundant.” or “The boss said I was surplus to requirements.”

Where we might say “massive layoffs”, they might say “massive redundancies,” except I don’t remember ever hearing the word massive in the two years I worked over there.

very old joke-

"How can you tell an Iranian is lying?

Their lips ar moving!"

Sorry...

^^^^ It's called Taqiyya.

There are several forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted under certain circumstances, the best known being taqiyya (the Shia name). These circumstances are typically those that advance the cause of Islam - in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them.

Quran (3:28) - This verse instructs believers not to take those outside the faith as friends, unless it is to "guard themselves" against danger, meaning that there are times when a Muslim may appear friendly to non-Muslims, even though they should not feel friendly.

Worth listening to, and VDH goes into a sarcastic digression about the Dems calling President Trump 'fascist' and his actions against Iran 'fascistic' - a nice, smooth ass-kicking, but beyond that Hanson's observations are, as usual, spot-on.

BTW- ma'am, turn off autofocus on your camera and focus it manually. You're sitting in a chair, for God's sake.

Spain has prevented the USA from using joint airfields for the Iran war and, the country’s President has been against us in Gaza as well.

Does any member of our group know how much money would be lost to Spain if the USA pulled all troops and other Americans with our government?

Spain virtue signaling. As if Spanish history began last month….

Negotiations are cancelled

https://x.com/nicksortor/statu...066672242680112?s=20

OK Light'em up already! Stop playing their games! All military forces used bridges first. Then all of them, their grid, it will start the people to actually do something about their government, with no work, no food and no power