Tux of Borg Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 Storming of Romanian Oil Rig Continues Iran's Provocative Actions By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Iran seized a Romanian oil rig off Kish Island. On August 22, a few hours before Iran delivered its response to the UN about its nuclear program, an Iranian warship fired on a Romanian oil rig and seized it. The New York Sun reports: An Iranian naval vessel fired on the rig, named Orizont, owned by Grup Servicii Petroliere in Iran's offshore Salman field and took control of its radio room at about 7 a.m. local time, Grup's representative in the United Arab Emirates, Lulu Tabanesku, said in a phone interview from Dubai yesterday. "The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns," Mr. Tabanesku said. "They are in control now, and we can't contact the rig." The Romanian company has 26 workers on the platform, he said. Although the Romanians are working to defuse the situation and have reportedly agreed that the incident was "of a commercial nature," there is much more to the seizure than that. Iran has engaged in a number of provocative moves lately, and this incident must be seen as part of a broader picture. Iran has been Hizballah's major sponsor for decades, and its fingerprints were all over the flare-up in Lebanon between Hizballah and Israel. Over this past weekend, Iran kicked off a masive five-week military exercise designed to showcase its capabilities. It has been reported that "[a]ssault and transport helicopters, parachutists, electronic war units and special forces are participating in the initial manoeuvre." And a fourth provocative action occurred Monday, when Iran denied IAEA inspectors access to an underground facility at Natanz designed to shelter its uranium enrichment program from attack. This comes on top of other signs of Iranian defiance over its nuclear program, including denying entry visas to two IAEA inspectors and issuing several inspectors single-entry visas rather than the customary multiple-entry visas. One clear purpose behind Iran's seizure of the Romanian rig was a show of force. Heinrich Matthee, Iran analyst for London's Control Risk Group, has noted that storming the rig "sends a message that Iran can project its power and could interfere in oil production." But there is also a gamesmanship aspect to Iran's actions. With each defiant move that Iran has made, Western countries have done little or nothing to push back. As Iran is not held accountable for such actions as backing Hizballah in its war against Israel and denying IAEA inspectors access to key nuclear sites, it comes to believe -- with reason -- that it will have more leeway in the way it operates in the future. If there is no real repercussion to Iran's seizure of the Romanian rig, then Iran will have further expanded the boundaries for its future actions. Western countries have no apparent strategy for dealing with Iran at this point, but the question of how to begin pushing back in response to these provocative actions is a critical one.
inkman Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 Can we just drop a nuke on them to avoid all the media coverage of innocent people being killed. Are their any nearby nuclear power plnats we can blame it on?
dib Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 Navy Seals+Limpet mine= 1 less pesky Iranian warship
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 Navy Seals+Limpet mine= 1 less pesky Iranian warship 754046[/snapback] Iran doesn't have "warships". They have rowboats stocked with RPGs. The lucky ones get outboard motors.
inkman Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 The lucky ones get outboard motors. 754100[/snapback] I thought they used hampster wheels with those rodents garbed up in scuba gear running their furry asses off under water.
eSJayDee Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 A show of force? I wouldn't think overtaking an oilrig w/ 26 workers on it requires much 'force'. I would think that 2 or 3 guys w/ handguns would be sufficient. I'm sure we have armed robberies over here that are more forceful. Bombing Pearl Harbor (damn those Germans ) was a show of force. Overtaking a commercial oilrig is more a sign of lawlessness.
5 Wide Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 This photo was taken from the Oil Rigs security Cameras moments before the seige Iranian Onslaught
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