Iranian tanker hit- footage.

G

gareth

Longterm Registered User
Hello Lads,

Just came across this contact footage, apparently it's from an Iranian tanker getting hit, no date given.
Does anybody have any int on this? The footage is pretty poor quality but there looks as though there was
a major 2-way-range event going on here.
Count how many wpn systems these boys have... On that one bridge wing I counted IWs, 7.62 beltfeds and even a couple of
.5 DShKs and a shit load of belts waiting to go and about a million empties, which also make you wonder how a 2-way could have even happened here.
Two last points to note, tell me if I'm wrong, but this vessel looks like a container vessel not a tanker as advertised and how often does the opportunity present itself to take prisoners? In most cases when they know it's going wrong they degage at a rapid rate of knots and don't hang around for any formalities.
LiveLeak.com - Iranian Oil Tanker Security Guards clash with Somali pirates ( amateur footage )
 
Your point about how it happened, clearly there couldn't of been much of a radar watch or visual lookout.

Seems a bizarre incident, however clearly the Somali's decided they would give as good as they got - but also for how many prisoners they had - there seems to be no blood for the hundreds of cases on the bridge wing - very bizarre!!
 
Video shown inside the bridge is of an ALREADY highjacked vessel, so i think it's a bit of a montage.

Again a good advert of employing UK security-a carpet of shell cases and link thrown on the floor tells you all you need to know about their drills.
 
Gareth,

the Iranian publicity and propaganda machine is known to favour and FABRICATE such incidents especially where their Navy are concerned and to be honest is a load of you know what???
 
Hey TB, do you have any examples of Iranian state propoganda in rgds to the piracy threat?
This event is fishy but as far as I know, this isn't on the mainstream news yet, and is just on LL, so no huge propoganda win.
The guys are all in DPM and lids so they maybe Iranian Navy (especially considering the wpn systems/ amount of rds they have)
but this does seem to be a montage, as posted above, so is maybe just a team-big-timing event?
 
Gareth,

I receive a weekly newsletter from OCEANUS giving details of all weekly piracy attacks etc, there are articles on there that you never hear about in the news and this includes what the Iranian Navy are supposed to have done.

This does not mean they have not saved vessels from being attacked, in the Apr 2012, Panama flagged XIANG HUA MEN was hijacked off the coast of Iran with a Chinese crew on board, the Iranian authorities were asked by China to save the crew, which they did by retaking the vessel.

It was also widely rumoured that one of the pirates taken was their lead guy in the Arabian sea and he was an ex British soldier, not too sure on that, however attacks in that area did diminish over the next months.
 
Some interesting int there TB.
Do OCEANUS have their int independently verified as far as you know?
There have been some major attacks off Oman as of late which has always perplexed me due to the distance they'd have to travel back if they were indeed Somali and looking to pinch a boat.
Everywhere else has been quiet and a lot different from a couple of yrs ago.
 
Gareth,

Mate where is "There have been some major attacks off Oman as of late" or should i ask where are you hearing this from any int is welcome and if you have a different source from a few of us this would be handy,

Cheers Bevs
 
All I've heard is of multiple-skiff-hits (7-9) off Muscat, these are unsubstantiated as I wasn't personally there and everythime I get near Muscat there's a big fcuking US aircraft carrier hanging around 30NM off shore..
 
The logo on the right of the image is from the Young Journalists Club (www.yjc.ir) an Iranian semi-official news agency. The events might have happened during late March early April 2012 (the video was already posted on Youtube back then) and it looks like related to this operation:

گزارش تصويري / عمليات دستگيري دزدان دريايي

12 دزد دريايي تحويل دستگاه قضايي ايران مي شود

Iranian Navy captures 12 pirates - Tehran Times

Iranian-Owned Bulker Freed from Pirate Control after Iran’s Navy Launches Raid


I'm not into MARSEC so I stand corrected if wrong.
 
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Gareth,

In my experience if there are 6-9 skiffs in an area especially around the Gulf of Oman then they are fishermen and if they approach your vessel its because they are worried about their nets and the Master of that vessel is flapping, this is where a good experienced TL will put him right and calm him down, a bit like in the BAM.

Thats not to say there are no pirates up that way as there have been intermittent attacks in that area.
 
You are correct in your assumption TB.
But if they were just fishermen why would they have gone on the daily INTSUM?
Maybe the MV/MT involved had no team onboard and flapped- I really don't know.
99% of the rpts coming through on the bridge-tickertape involve the area off Oman, in particular Muscat
and have involved many skiffs- be they fishermen or pirates? Again I have no idea.
 
Have had a good look at the video.

I think it is actually three vessels.

The first is a container ship and seems to be thwarting an attack. The second with the damaged bridge is a bulk carrier and I think that is the Eglantine which is a gearless bulker which is what you can see through the broken windows the third ship I think is the Xiang Hua Men.

This is a link to the Xiang Hua Men where Iranians report 9 captured pirates. Which also fits given there are clearly 9 pirates caught.

PressTV - Iran Navy rescues Chinese freighter from pirates

So it is a poor montage to demonstrate sod all and in same vein as putting up wrong rocket strapped monkey in press conference.
 
Like I said all along, a load of propaganda by the Iranian authorities although they did report it correctly about the Chinese vessel, on another note, nobody has picked up on a certain reported pirate taken during this incident being an ex British soldier and the head man for pirate ops in the Arabian sea at the time, its all gone quiet since then, IS THIS A COINCIDENCE???????
 
Below is a passage from a clip about the above incident:

The war on piracy in the Horn of Africa has received a major boost following the capture of one of the world’s most wanted Somali pirate leaders, Mohamed Garad - Africa Review.
Garad, a former British soldier, is said to have been arrested together with 12 other suspected pirates on April 4 by Iranian commandos after they hijacked a Chinese cargo ship.
The co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers Association, Mr Andrew Mwangura, said Garad was captured after the seizure of the Chinese vessel, Xianghuamen, last week.
Xianghuamen is a Panama-flagged general cargo vessel owned by Nanjing Ocean Shipping Company of China.
“Garad had been on the run for many decades. He was elusive and sly and had slipped out of all the security dragnets before. His capture is the greatest good news in the war against piracy and terrorism,” Mr Mwangura said yesterday.
The coordinator described Garad as “an old, experienced hand and a role model in the piracy world”, who has been linked to hundreds of ship hijack cases in the Horn of Africa.
“To experts and those who knew Garad, he was like Carlos the Jackal in the crime world and Dedan Kimathi to the British colonialists, mysterious and never easy to capture,” Mr Mwangura said.
The arrest of the pirate leader, Mr Mwangura said, was confirmed by one of his cousins in Mogadishu.
 
Activity in the GoO is interesting. In December there was activity where PAG's were operating openly in the northern areas right into the straights. A long way from home if they are indeed Somali based pirates, without of course, local logistical assistance. Without turning into a conspiracy theorist geek, it would not surprise me if the Iranians had a hand in this, either supporting them or indeed providing the PAGs to show the world that they are capable of suppressing piracy in their own back yard. It seems strange that the PAG's in December could just disappear. I am not saying that the Iranians have not had their fair share of disruptions but many of these recent incidents have no hard evidence that Somali pirates are indeed responsible. This latest incident looks to me like a fabrication. Who knows!
 
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