Beltway sources confirmed that the highest level of the U.S. government gave the order for Brasilia to stop this food shipment.
Tehran knows it well as this is part of the "maximum pressure" campaign, whose goal is ultimately to starve the Iranian population to death in a harrowing game of chicken.
How this may end is described by an ominous quote I already used in some of my previous columns, from a Goldman Sachs derivatives specialist: "If the Strait of Hormuz is closed, the price of oil will rise to a thousand dollars a barrel representing over 45 percent of global GDP, crashing the $2.5 quadrillion derivatives market and creating a world depression of unprecedented proportions."
At least the Pentagon seems to understand that a war on Iran will collapse the world economy.
And Now for Something Completely Different
But then, last but not least, there's the tanker war.
Dutch analyst Maarten van Mourik has noted significant discrepancies involving the UK piracy episode in Gibraltar the origin of the tanker war. The Grace 1 tanker "was pirated by the Royal Marines in international waters. Gibraltar Straits is an international passage, like the Strait of Hormuz. There is only three nautical miles of territorial water around Gibraltar, and even that is disputed."
Mourik adds, "The size of the Grace 1 ship is 300,000 MT of crude oil, it has a maximum draught of about 22.2 meters and the latest draught via AIS indicated that she was at 22.1 meters, or fully laden. Now, the port of Banyas in Syria, which is where the offshore oil port is, has a maximum draft of 15 meters. So, in no way could the Grace 1 go there, without first having to offload elsewhere. Probably a very large quantity to get within max draught limitations."
That ties in with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif refusing on the record to say where Grace 1 was actually heading to, while not confirming the destination was Syria.
The tit-for-tat Iranian response, with the seizure of the Stena Impero navigating under the British flag, is now evolving into Britain calling for a "European-led maritime protection mission" in the Persian Gulf, purportedly to protect ships from Iranian "state piracy."
Observers may be excused for mistaking it for a Monty Python sketch. Here we have the Ministry of Silly Seizures, which is exiting the EU, begging the EU to embark on a "mission" that is not the same mission of the U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign. And on top of it the mission should not undermine Britain's commitment to keep the JCPOA in place.
As European nations never recede on a chance to flaunt their dwindling "power" across the Global South, Britain, Germany and France now seem bent on their "mission" to "observe maritime security in the Gulf," in the words of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. At least this won't be a deployment of joint naval forces as London insisted. Brussels diplomats confirmed the initial muscular request came from London, but then it was diluted: the EU, NATO and the U.S. should not be involved at least not directly.
Now compare this with the phone call last week between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron, with Tehran expressing the determination to "keep all doors open" for the JCPOA. Well, certainly not open to the Monty Python sketch.
That was duly confirmed by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said Iran will "not allow disturbance in shipping in this sensitive area," while Iranian vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri rejected the notion of a "joint European task force" protecting international shipping: "These kinds of coalitions and the presence of foreigners in the region by itself creates insecurity."
Iran has always been perfectly capable, historically, of protecting that Pentagonese Holy Grail "freedom of navigation" in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran certainly doesn't need former colonial powers to enforce it. It's so easy to lose the plot; the current, alarming escalation is only taking place because of the "art of the deal" obsession on imposing an illegal, total economic war on Iran.
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