World politics
fromThe Atlantic
46 minutes agoHow to Solve the Strait of Hormuz Problem
The war with Iran has caused a severe global energy crisis due to control over the Strait of Hormuz.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the vessel had been involved in transporting Ukrainian agricultural products from Russian-occupied Crimea in breach of international restrictions.
When the war broke out, we put a Warlike Operations Area Committee in place to address the protection of seafarers in the region. The organization has identified certain maritime routes in the region, including the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and some parts of the Gulf of Oman as high-risk areas, encouraging ship owners to allow seafarers to terminate contracts if they choose not to operate in those zones.
The UAE is advocating for a broad international coalition and is working with Bahrain on a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution to provide legal backing for the force.
Special forces assisted by French helicopters boarded the ship in a clandestine operation in the North Sea on Saturday night, Belgium's defence minister, Theo Francken, said on Sunday. Prosecutors said the tanker, identified as the Ethera, was falsely flying the flag of Guinea and was believed to be on its way back to Russia when it was seized in Belgium's exclusive economic zone.
The US military is broadly targeting Iran's naval combat capabilities, expanding strikes beyond just warships to mines, drone boats, and torpedoes, the admiral overseeing the Middle East operations said on Monday. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, reiterated in a video statement that eliminating Iran's naval threats is one of three military objectives of the American strike campaign.
We submit that Natia Dzadzama's husband, of Georgian nationality, was unlawfully detained and held by the US navy in Scotland since 7 January, on the marine vessel known as the Marinera and formerly known as Bella 1. The captain's wife is reasonably concerned about her husband's safety and security on the ship, and today we are seeking the intervention of the Scottish court of session in order to protect the legal rights of her husband.
I spoke with him around midnight and everything was fine. Then he called me again around 2:30 a.m. and quickly said: 'We're all okay, everyone survived.' Later in the morning, she said, her husband told her that a drone had struck their tanker, triggering a fire that heavily damaged the vessel.
US Coast Guard tactical teams worked closely with its counterparts at the Departments of War, Department of Justice and State and used their specialized expertise to conduct these operations and conduct two safe, effective boardings within hours of each other. One of these tankers, Motor Tanker Bella I, has been trying to evade the Coast Guard for weeks, even changing its flag and painting a new name on the hull while being pursued, in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice.
US naval forces have boarded and seized a runaway Russian shadow fleet tanker in the North Atlantic, the latest in a series of moves by Washington against vessels linked to illegal trade in Venezuelan oil. The US European Command said in a statement on social media on January 7 that the tanker, the Marinera, formerly named the Bella 1, was seized in the north Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the United Kingdom.
At the direction of the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted three lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations, Southern Command said in the statement, which as has become customary was accompanied by a video showing the boats exploding after being hit by a missile. Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations, it added.
The US military on Thursday said it killed two people in a strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal drugs in the eastern Pacific. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the US Southern Command posted on X. It added that "no US military forces were harmed" in the operation. The statement did not offer any evidence that the boat pictured was actually carrying narcotics before it was blown up in the attack.
Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations, the Southern Command said in a statement. The command included a video of the strike with its announcement, which shows a boat traveling through the water as it explodes into flames after being hit with what looks like a missile. The Southern Command and the Pentagon did not immediately return requests for additional information.