Click here to see video of Iranian boats harassing the USS New Orleans and Coast Guard cutter Adak[link]
At a time of heightened tensions with Iran, U.S. military officials told CNN Friday that U.S. military and Coast Guard ships had two close encounters earlier this month with high-speed Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf that exhibited provocative behavior.
The incidents occurred January 6, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The USS New Orleans, an amphibious transport ship was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf last Friday when three Iranian Navy speed boats rapidly approached within 500 yards of the ship, the official said. The Iranians did not respond to whistle signals or voice queries from the New Orleans. The lack of response disregards standard maritime protocols, the official said. The boats eventually broke away.
On the same day, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Adak was also harassed by high-speed Iranian Navy boats while operating 75 miles east of Kuwait City. Iranian personnel in the small boats appeared to be holding AK-47 rifles and at least one video camera, the official said. U.S. personnel on the cutter also reported seeing a forward gun that was manned on one of the Iranian boats, according to the official. Eventually, communications with a larger Iranian vessel in the area were established and the speed boats stopped their harassment.
No shots were fired in either incident, both of which were videotaped. The Pentagon may release that footage later Friday.[Which of course it has released, see first sentence]

Iran: We have evidence US behind scientist slaying
MSNBC
updated 1 hour 22 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state television said Saturday that Tehran had evidence Washington was behind the latest assassination of one of its nuclear scientists.

"We have reliable documents and evidence that this terrorist act was planned, guided and supported by the CIA," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a letter handed to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, state TV reported.

"The documents clearly show that this terrorist act was carried out with the direct involvement of CIA-linked agents," it added.

The Obama administration has reinforced the threat of American military strikes against Iran by doubling the number of US aircraft carrier groups in the region. The provocative decision heightens the danger of war in the Persian Gulf as the US moves aggressively to impose a de facto embargo on Iranian oil exports.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, backed by a cruiser and a destroyer, arrived in the Arabian Sea this week to join the USS John Stennis. A third aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is also heading for the area after a port visit in Thailand on Tuesday.
US military spokesmen downplayed the naval deployments as “routine,” noting that the USS John Stennis was due to return to the US. Nevertheless, the Pentagon has quietly decided to maintain two aircraft carriers in the region rather than one, and, while the changeover is taking place, could have three, greatly enhancing its ability to conduct an air and naval war against Iran.........
The Obama administration’s menacing moves against Tehran are being accompanied by an escalating campaign in the American and international media designed to vilify the Iranian regime and create the climate for war. A steady stream of editorials and commentary gives legitimacy to unproven claims that Iran is developing nuclear arms, while portraying the regime as aggressive, provocative and a threat to regional peace.......
Thousands of mourners took part yesterday in a public funeral in Tehran for Roshan [the nuclear scientist assassinated earlier this week], angrily denouncing the killing. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US and Israel of orchestrating the “cowardly assassination” and pledged to punish those responsible.
Washington’s pro-forma denials of any involvement are in marked contrast to the widespread discussion in US official and media circles, which accepts these acts of terrorism as legitimate and debates the efficacy of the covert war. Over the past two years, three other Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed, a series of unexplained bombings have taken place at military sites, and a computer virus has been used to inflict damage at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Whether or not Iran’s nuclear program has been retarded, these criminal activities have the character of deliberate provocations aimed at producing retaliation by Tehran, which will, in turn, be seized on to further inflame tensions in the Persian Gulf or provide a casus belli for war.
The Obama administration’s punitive economic measures against Iran are likewise acts of calculated aggression. On December 31, President Obama signed a measure into law that imposes penalties on foreign corporations that do business with Iran’s central bank. The US sanction, which does not even have the fig leaf of UN approval, means that Washington can punish companies for carrying out normal and entirely legal business activities.
Over the past fortnight, US officials have used the threat to bully foreign governments, businesses and banks into complying with Washington’s demands. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Japan and China this week to press for a reduction in oil imports from Iran. A senior Obama administration official told the New York Times on Thursday, “We do mean to close down the Central Bank of Iran.”[Which means the intent is to financially ruin Iran, driving its decision-makers to the wall, forcing them to either surrender or strike out]
The US legislation is already having an impact.......
To drive home the threat, the US announced sanctions on Thursday against three oil corporations: China’s state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corporation, Singapore’s Kuo Oil Pte Ltd, and FAL Oil Company Ltd, an independent trader based in the United Arab Emirates. The companies will be excluded from receiving US export licences, US Export Import Bank financing or loans over $10 million from US financial institutions.
There is no doubt that the main target was Zhuhai Zhenrong, a major Chinese corporation, which not only buys Iranian oil but sells refined petroleum products to the country. Lacking refining capacity of its own, Iran is dependent on imports for 30 to 40 percent of its gasoline.
While Zhuhai Zhenrong is unlikely to be seriously affected by US sanctions, other major Chinese oil corporations—China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)—have billions of dollars invested in the US energy sector and are thus highly vulnerable.

as the US moves aggressively to impose a de facto embargo on Iranian oil exports.

As for supplies, US crude oil production is probably higher, and consumption lower, than widely appreciated. Elsewhere, there is plenty of oil available now that much of the Dark Inventory has been liquidated, and this liquidation was probably why in November 2011 we saw the highest Saudi monthly deliveries in 30 years.

mcgowanjm wrote:

as the US moves aggressively to impose a de facto embargo on Iranian oil exports.

From yesterday, you will never hear this on StateTV.

Because this is an Act of War. See Japan, 1941 for details.

Just finished a wonderful Chris Cook article, per NakedCapitalism per Ilargi.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/ ... d-oil.html

Explaining why the USSA will Not be going to war with Iran. I really think that Israel
'is being put on the back burner by the USSA. Demographics and hubris have finally
overwhelmed Israel's position in DC.

Oil at $50 the BBL by May:

As for supplies, US crude oil production is probably higher, and consumption lower, than widely appreciated. Elsewhere, there is plenty of oil available now that much of the Dark Inventory has been liquidated, and this liquidation was probably why in November 2011 we saw the highest Saudi monthly deliveries in 30 years.

http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/

Again, someone was tracking the last Chinese boat into Long Beach, as the BDI
looks to have collapsed the week of Xmas.

A senior Obama administration official told the New York Times on Thursday, “We do mean to close down the Central Bank of Iran.”[Which means the intent is to financially ruin Iran, driving its decision-makers to the wall, forcing them to either surrender or strike out]