Today in Naval Blockade: the story is the system that makes Iran confident enough to keep testing limits

#Iran #StraitOf Hormuz

"Expect this blockade to last a long time."

Can the U.S. Load All the Empty Super Tankers | Why Is an American Carrier Beating Around the BUSH?

short answer: US cannot pump fast enough to fill all the empty tankers.

Gas prices likely will stay high.

SPR = Strategic Petroleum Reserve ?

Look up "Commander Salamander"

Ah, but from Scott Ritter

15 Warships, Zero Results: How One Chinese Tanker Broke America's Blockade in 12 Hours| Scott Ritter

Saudi Arabia is frantic about the Blockade

Malawi has no official ship registry is the ship in question is legally stateless. The ship in question was spoofing location for days.

Able to load Iranian product at an Omani Port

Part of the global shadow fleet

China and Iran have been working on the technologies and plans of evasion for decades.

Gap between what CentCom says and what the US navy can enforce

The ship did turn back but the gap is plain to see. 

RantWoman's interpretation: Ha. Ha. US is being told the strait is blockaded but there are big legal holes. Both shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz are Iranian territorial waters. US ships going there would be an act of war. Multiple paths to escalation, but de-escalation? Who blinks first? Don't bet on Iran / China

And from Iran:

"No port in the Gulf is safe unless all ports are safe"

Iran Threatened Every Gulf Port; America Has Not Responded. China Is the Reason Iran Can – Jiang

Iran is not talking to the US. It's talking to every gulf state with some kind of oil activity on the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia pressing the US to end the blockade and return to negotiations.

You do not need big boats to blow up an aircraft carrier. 

Iran is also threatening the Red Sea. Houthis have not stood by so far.

US is managing 5 things at once: US silence is strategic but has risks. Iran trying to split the US from regional partners.

Sales to China greater than before war.

China used shadow tankers and second tier banks not in the SWIFT network. Iran is getting paid in yuan, not dollars. So Iran has economic oxygen to sustain itself.

China preparing to send shoulder-launched weapons to Iran.

The confidence ladder  

Iran threatened every port because confident of Chinese moves.

US treating China and Russia as spectators. 

RantWoman has not checked the sources cited as part of this interpretation.

And for different scenarios, different interpretations

Chinese Tankers Crossed the Hormuz... Then US Navy' Response Was INSTANT

Who is alone? Who has how much time?