Iran sending warships to US border.

This is crazy. We'd never send our ships anywhere near any country we weren't BFF with. They might take offense!

Vince524 said:

Iran plans to send ships near the Atlantic coast of the United States, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting a commander.

"The Navy of the Iranian Army will have a powerful presence near the United States borders," read the headline of the story, in Farsi.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/world/meast/iran-navy/


Not sure what this means, but I imagine it can't be good.

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It's lip service to aggression. Hollow threats.

Allow an Iranian American comedian to explain.

NSFW due to occasional F-bombs.

Here was my favorite PARTIAL sentence:
"The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured that its military might poses no threat to other countries,..."

rwam said:

Here was my favorite PARTIAL sentence:
"The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured that its military might poses no threat to other countries,..."

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Sounds exactly like what we hear from our state department, doesn't it?

Don said:

Sounds exactly like what we hear from our state department, doesn't it?

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Actually, I was reading it from the context of 'capability' and not of 'intent'.

I've seen 300. Those Persians will come ashore with rhinoceroses and giant eunuchs.

Manuel Royal said:

I've seen 300. Those Persians will come ashore with rhinoceroses and giant eunuchs.

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That's madness.

Kaiser-Kun said:

That's madness.

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I now hate you for not saying "This is madness" instead.

Manuel Royal said:

I've seen 300. Those Persians will come ashore with rhinoceroses and giant eunuchs.

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At least we will be spared the proto-cataphracts and giant celestial models that the Sassanids corrupted the world with before the Byzantines and Arabs took Cteisphone (that's Seista-Phone) in 634 and/or 673 respectively.

Though, of course Avid readers of Herodotus will have noted that the chapter in which the 300 Spartans and their 2000 allies get trounced is mostly about how the Athenians trick the rest of the Greeks into assembling a fleet and resisting the Persian Fleet (at of course at that point Herodotus' Heroine is commanding a naval squadron for the Persians since she was a Greek from Herodotus' home town of Halicarnasis).

And concerned readers of later naval lore will note that "Freedom of the Sea" manoeuvers are a pretty standard naval mission, though why the Iranians need to have their freedom to navigate the Atlantic, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific shown is a little puzzling.

I lulz at the "Iranian Army Navy". They should play football against each other.

Iran is basically trolling, and people will fall for it every time.

So long as they observe the fishing limits, I am ok with it...

NoGuessing said:

Iran is basically trolling, and some people will fall for it every time.

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Yeah, trolling is the perfect word for it. It translates directly from the online world to meatspace in this particular instance.

Oh, and I fixed your quote with the bolded.

You can come and edit my WIP for me next.

This should keep Charlie Rose busy for a while.

NoGuessing said:

Iran is basically trolling, and people will fall for it every time.

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I've always thought of Iran as the trolls of international diplomacy.

Ahmedinejad even looks a bit like trollface when he smiles...

Do they have any ships or personnel capable of operating in the N Atlantic in winter? Very different conditions to what they're used to.

No, they only plan on coming during spring break...

thothguard51 said:

No, they only plan on coming during spring break...

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Does that make this seem more innocuous, or less so?

waylander said:

Do they have any ships or personnel capable of operating in the N Atlantic in winter? Very different conditions to what they're used to.

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I think they have "frigate" sized ships, so they can probably at least avoid getting swamped by large waves. Still, where will they refuel and what happens if they have a break down?

I think logistically getting a ship to stay on station in the Atlantic would be pretty hard for them. A quick visit should be possible, but they will have to have some luck or lots of help from specialized contracted ships for repairs.

They are part of a new Venezuelan navy?

donroc said:

They are part of a new Venezuelan navy?

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The Iranians seem a bit confused about the benefits of
sending a ship or two out to wander around the Atlantic or Pacific or Caribean. It's sure to be a lot more trouble than it is worth and its likely to result in embarrassing moments when they break down, or ram something and so on.

A better exercise in power-projection (though their anti-pirate ideas seem okay) would be some kind of humanitarian mission with chartered ships. They would get political points, not too much embarrassment and some operational experience (though the anti-pirate stuff would seem to be fine for all that too).

Isn't there a piracy problem in the Gulf / Spanish Main? (Whatever we call it post-1500.) Seems like some Iranian warships would be useful there.