A Chinese-owned tanker under U.S. sanctions has passed the Strait of Hormuz despite the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began on Monday.
Citing data from Kpler and MarineTraffic, Reuters reported that the vessel had traversed the chokepoint earlier today. Owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd., the vessel, Rich Starry, became a target for U.S. sanctions because it was used to transport Iranian crude.
The Rich Starry is loaded with 250,000 barrels of methanol that it loaded at the Emirati port of Hamriyah, according to the data. It could be that fact that has ensured the unobstructed passage of the vessel, despite the sanctions. The U.S. Central Command said the blockade would only cover Iranian ports and traffic to and from them.
I still don’t get why the US is blocking the strait.
Because Iran came up with the idea of having ships pay a toll to cross. Trump said “Hey…I want some of that” and Iran told him to pound sand. So now Iran is blockading anyone who doesn’t pay their toll and is civil to them, and Trump is (threatening to) blockade anyone who does, purely out of spite.
Yes…our reality really is that stupid.
Because Trump is a moron and knows that he was losing the war while Iran blocked the Strait. So in his brain, if he blocks it then he will be winning instead.
Not really that simple. Iran wasn’t blocking the strait entirely. They were allowing oil held by or bound for nations friendly to them through, some with a toll depending on how friendly. Some corner cases of some other nations as well. But, even so, a lot of ships just don’t want to take the risk either way. It’s literally a war zone.
A blockade by the US would stop more ships. But it doesn’t seem like that’s actually happening. Or it’s hard to tell right now exactly what is going to happen.
I wouldn’t say it’s a dumb move (in that it doesn’t do anything. It does) but more of a dumb escalation of tensions that the US will likely not follow through on again.
The Trump tactic seems to be to say he’s going to do something extreme and then not actually follow through with it. It looks stupid from the outside. But that’s assuming the billionaire pedophile is trying to do something other than benefit him and his rich friends and family.
We’re watching an admin that is literally just playing games with the world economy (and peoples lives) in order to enrich themselves.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking he’s just dumb. There is more to it than that. Massive amounts of money are changing hands every time he escalates and then deescalates. And knowing when exactly he decides to do that can literally net you millions of dollars in minutes.
This is just a game to them.
Some chick in Brazil is about to spill the beans on how many children Trump raped. So don’t be surprised if Tehran gets turned into a glowing glass bowl in a few days. We’ll probably stage a land invasion of Cuba too, just to make sure everyone is completely distracted.
Who is distracted by this shit? And what would happen if they weren’t? Is he going to jail? Impeached? Beheaded?
This is bigger than the files. The US has done insane shit for its whole existence, including mass enslavement and multiple genocides, wars, regime changes, etc. The difference is that Trump is incompetent enough to not put an act the way someone like Obama (or even Biden) did, so it looks out of nowhere or disproportionate. But this isn’t out of the norm for the US government, this has always been their way of doing business.
While I absolutely don’t disagree with you regarding the US doing insane, evil shit, I also think you’re giving this administration WAYYY too much credit. We have never seen incompetence like this in the executive branch. Every move they’ve made since taking office, both foreign and domestic, reeks of desperation and panic, with no plan whatsoever. It is absolute amateurism. So no, I disagree that this is standard operation for the US. It’s much worse.
Trump is a 5 years old child