Gulf of Oman – GULF OF OMAN (Jan. 18, 2022) U.S. service members conduct a boarding on a stateless fishing vessel transiting international waters the Gulf of Oman as a rigid-hull inflatable boat and patrol coastal ship USS Chinook (PC 9) sail nearby, Jan. 18. (U.S. Navy photo)
The US Navy 5th Fleet seized on January 18 a stateless fishing vessel carrying loads of a chemical material that can be used to make explosives in the Gulf of Oman, the US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) announced on January 23.
“Guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) and patrol coastal ship USS Chinook (PC 9) interdicted the stateless vessel transiting from Iran in waters outside of any state’s territorial sea along a route historically used to traffic weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.
During a flag verification boarding and subsequent search, U.S. forces discovered 40 tons of urea fertilizer, a chemical compound with agricultural applications that is also known to be used as an explosive precursor,” the NAVCENT said in a statement.
According to the NAVCENT, the same stateless fishing vessel was seized by the US Navy in February 2021 off the coast of Somalia while it was attempting to smuggle weapons. Back then, the vessel and its Yemeni crewmembers was handed over to the Yemeni Coast Guard.
Last December, the US Navy 5th Fleet seized a stateless fishing vessel carrying 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition in the North Arabian Sea. Back then, the US Central Command said that the vessel originated in Iran and was sailing along a route used to traffic weapons to the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen.
The US Navy 5th Fleet’s anti-smuggling operations in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman are clearly meant to support the Saudi-led coalition’s war on the Houthis in Yemen.
Aside from the usual bull$#it about Iran and Yemen, the fertilizer might actually be originated from Iran. With recent insane energy policies which resulted in huge increase of natural gas and subsequently nitrogen fertilizers, our product with its ridiculously low price (like fuel) is very attractive for smugglers.
So if that’s the case and the boat somehow managed to evade our coast guard with its illegal cargo I’d like to thank the US Navy for their cooperation for making smuggling more expensive! :))
I just hope Yemenis didn’t plan to use fertilizers in their missiles and drones. Oh right, they don’t, never did.
Carry on boys (dammit! and girlz and gender fluids and non-binary sailor-persons and whatnot. Was that inclusive enough?).
UAE and Arabia were simultaneously targeted about an hour ago.
At least 4 explosions “heard”. Emiratis fired some AD missiles. AbuDhabi airport closed.
Waiting for more info.
Flying a commercial drone in UAE now lands you in jail for up to 3 years, plus $ tens of thousands fine.
Dumb flucks, they were warned. I hope those glass towers are history. The money will flee their little pin-head sized country and that will be a hurt they will feel and so will the west. It’ll be a message that will be heard far and wide. Oil and gas prices will go vertical, weak western economies are already on the skids and this ain’t gonna help. Gee, whiz kids, what then? At any rate, there be a whole lotta shaken goin on. Awaiting the results on the edge of my seat.
General Sare’e had a press conference.
They retaliated against UAE (AbuDhabi and Dubai) and Saudis (Jizan, Aseer and Sherwah) by Zolfiqar missiles and Sammad (1 &3) and Qasef 2-K drones, operation “Yemeni Storm 2” commenced.
They targeted “al-Dhafrah” airbase south of AbuDhabi. This is UAE’s main airbase which also hosts US air force and army and French air force.
Balls of steel, respect!!
The bad news is that cowards in a feat of blind rage will attack civilians.
Edit: Saudis say they installed an air defence system in Mecca to protect the holy places against Iranian attack!!
It’s surreal…
Western media will try to make something out of this, no doubt. Can’t imagine the size a missile would have to be to carry enough to actually be worthwhile. Sounds like a load of manure to me…sorry, I couldn’t help it.
You are right, but it shouldn’t be hard for them. If they can pretend Yemenis need one thousand rusted AK-47s, how hard is it to pretend they can strap a 2-tonne truck on top of an “Iranian smuggled missile” and terrorize innocent little Saudis or rainbow fluffy Emiratis?
Unfortunately for them, Yemenis just don’t care about western MSM shrieks and do what they must.
Now that Yemenis are pounding the aggressors everybody wants to de-escalate and peaceful dialogue, the same thing that Iran proposed in 2015 at UN which they try so hard to forget. Let’s hope this time China and Russia, as 2 permanent members of UNSC do the right thing.
Well, tried to respond to your post, but a part of my page crashed…the part with the comment section. This comment board has been hacked, as frequently my comments will not post. What I posted was that as of this morn, Al Masirah has nothing on it. I am trying to post this as an ‘edit’, hopefully it will post. Gotta love KSA BS…have to protect mecca from what? An Israeli FF? As well, do these idiots know what a shit storm will come if there is a mass exodus (couldn’t help it) from UAE?
Wow, that worked.
certain words wouldn’t let me post the other day. worked after misspelling the forbidden words. it never did that to me before.
It is truly sad what is going on in Yemen. But we cannot blame only Saudi Arabia and UAE. Personally, on the Yemeni file, I am on the side of UAE. Iran and Saudi Arabia support radical Islamic groups that will threaten Christian interests there. The Southern movement have many left-wingers for sure but they are cooler than the other factions. Iran wants Houthis to win in order to encircle Saudi Arabia together with Syria, Iraq and Oman. Eritrea also supports Houthis because they are against Arabs.
According to RT they were intercepted: https://www.rt.com/news/546914-uae-air-defense-houthi/
Do you have visual proof they hit their targets.
Hope they did, but 2 to 5 missiles is not very proportionate given what occurred in Yemen a few days ago.
I had a few conversations. Birdies weren’t filming.
I saw similar footage to the one published by RT after I posted my first comment. I was told there was no interception and I didn’t see any in that footage (from different angle), just the patriot missile debris. And if you watch closely, one of the AD missiles doesn’t even detonate.
The debris is falling very slow (free falling). The debris of an intercepted ballistic missile inherit one definite and one relative characteristics of a moment before interception: high downward velocity and direction (the trajectory on which the missile is coming).
The lack of interception is also observed by some people following the tweets and also under RT article.
Maybe a video of a clear interception gets published, we’ll have to wait.
But the damage on Saudis are confirmed.
I agree that the retaliation we see is not proportionate to the savagery of the terror coalition. Something hundred times bigger than that would be proportionate, OTOH we have to consider Yemen’s condition too.
I hope they hit and hit hard.
Saudi Arabia will be disintegrated soon, that’s for sure.
These tanks are pushing their lasts.
Urea fertilizer? Perfect for Jens Holm organic tomatoes 😀
Shame on you Southfront to title that as Tons of dangerous material.
These vessels should also pack high explosives onboard. Refuse the US boarding rights. When they try to force their way onboard, blow everything sky high…make sure they sink the US shitbucket as well