Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
All signs are currently pointing to serious escalation in the Middle East between Israel, Iran, and involving the United States – particularly after Israel’s recent claim of an Iranian sponsored attack on an Israeli-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman two weeks ago.
Signaling the likelihood that another red hot ‘tanker war’ is set for regional waters within the upcoming months, a new bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reveals Israeli intelligence has been waging its own tanker sabotage campaign against the Iranians over the past two years, in order to thwart what Tel Aviv believes are illegal oil shipments that result in funds for terror groups.
“Israel has targeted at least a dozen vessels bound for Syria and mostly carrying Iranian oil out of concern that petroleum profits are funding extremism in the Middle East, US and regional officials say, in a new front in the conflict between Israel and Iran,” the WSJ writes.
It also appears part of the Israeli and US campaign to essentially starve the Assad government and bring it to its knees, further amidst near weekly Israeli airstrikes inside the war-torn country. The new report clearly suggests US intelligence officials knew about the covert tanker sabotage campaign in real time, and may have even assisted in some level of the planning or operations. Remember too that during the final months of the Trump administration Pompeo was essentially told he could go “gloves off” when it comes to greenlighting Israeli sabotage against Iran.
Officials say the covert espionage campaign has been underway going back to late 2019, which featured water mines being secretly attached to ships in order to stop ‘sanctions-busting activity’ in places like the Red Sea – which is a transit route the Islamic Republic uses to resupply its ally Syria of badly needed oil and fuel.
Interestingly, Iran has actually loudly claimed to be victim of precisely such Israeli mine and bomb attacks on the high seas in the recent past, which starting in 2019 were even reported in Israeli media.
See for example the below…
Iran blames alleged tanker attack on Israel, US and Saudis https://t.co/U6RHnGksFX
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) October 16, 2019
“In an episode last month, suspected Israeli operatives attached a limpet mine to attack an Iranian vessel as it anchored near Lebanon to deliver Iran oil to Syria, according to the first shipping professional,” WSJ continues.
“The attacks on the tankers carrying Iranian oil haven’t been previously disclosed. Iranian officials have reported some of the attacks earlier and have said they suspect Israeli involvement.” But typically when it’s the Iranians, Russians or Syrians making the allegations it gets ignored or batted down in Western press.
The rationale provided for such attacks in the report also includes that Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) typically operate or provide security for the tankers bound for Syria. All of this helps explain what appears to be Iranian retaliation over the past year – again, particularly the latest bombing incident against the Israeli-owned cargo ship Helios Ray in the Gulf of Oman.
Iranian tanker 'deliberately' spilled oil into Israel's waters, leading maritime journal claimshttps://t.co/YnVKn1b1rL via @@i24NEWS_EN
— Elize Biermann (@ElizeBiermann) March 10, 2021
The Israeli initiative also appears aimed at ensuring the disruption of Biden’s stated plans to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal.
Chief executive for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mark Dubowitz, summarized Tel Aviv’s approach as follows: “Israel stepped up the game beyond sanctions to sabotage,” he was quoted in WSJ as saying. “The Red Sea sabotage is keeping with a broader economic warfare campaign.”
Frankly, the WSJ (wankstreetJewrnal) is a Zionist disinformation rag and plants fake stories to buoy support for the cowardly child killers.
‘loaded with consumer goods’?
Now … that’s funny … Can you do 15 minutes of standup?
Rubbish, as usual, isisrahell enjoys a good press in his slave colony in north america, at this point it will be of little use, one thing is to win in the world of chatter, another is the real world where things for the apartheid regime that occupies Palestine are becoming more and more painful, the settlers see their end and howl at the moon, like the sick dogs they really are.
So … Israel is ‘winning’ in the ‘world of chatter’ but losing in ‘the real world’ … is that it? lol
What loss in the real world? lol
Cuz … in the world of southfront Israel is being ravaged by y’all … lol
Seems … the Russian / Iranian / progressives are ALL anti-Zionist / anti-Judaism HATERS … eh?
So WTF are you talking about?
next
amerikan intelligence= contradiction in terms/oxymoron Americans prefer fish flavored with petroleum—an amerikan invention—Lake Erie had petroleum sludge 3 meters deep for many years—a combustible lake with frequent fires where locals ate pre-fried fish—amerikan “fast food”
BS … Russia is a pollution nightmare
If thats not piracy I dunno what is. Time to treat them accordingly…
Piracy against a container lol
Its terrorism,ever hear of it?
Israel has failed against Iran regionally and these are just stunts to stay relevant. Their military knows fully well that they can not confront Iran directly.
….buit I’d love to see Israel try……and get it’s ar*e whipped and “violated”.
Pinpoint bombing of Mossad HQ and leveling of the whole complex would be cool.
Nah, just sounds like the Jew media is pushing third rate psy-ops. Not buyin it!
Israel is looking quite clumsy and weak. Ex-Mossad chief Efraim Halevy: We must try talking with Iran as full scale military option is not possible or achievable.
He is not the one to decide such actions, so he is irrelevant.
‘israel’ pissing in the wind.
Loser.
Lies, how come none of them were sunk? if we wanted to target the vessels we could have sunken them, but no real damage was done.
Tell that to the Syrians who had to wait months to get their oil.
What was in the Israeli tanker that was delayed for a few days with no spillage? It wasn’t even heading for Israel, it was heading for SE Asia. It was only money for the owner but Iran is the only source of oil for the Syrians.
The Israeli ship was carrying Automobiles … sluggo
‘Chuba’ … is that a Ukrainian name?
Hmm … where were YOUR parents in WWII ?
Czechoslovakian (mouthful), well I guess that is out of date but I don’t know which side it lands on. Technically, Austro-Hungarian is listed on the immigration papers when my ancestor left the old world. But Ukraine is nearby.
Cool … West Ukraine err Galicia or Volhynia were parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
My dad came from Poland / Ukraine
My mom from Bessarabia err Moldova
Call the Israeli actions what they are – Terrorism, supported by the United States.