This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.
Why aren’t more Americans concerned that we could be on the verge of an apocalyptic war with Iran? If there was still any doubt, what happened on Friday made it exceedingly clear that we are literally on the brink of seeing World War 3 erupt in the Middle East.
And as I detailed yesterday, a war with Iran wouldn’t be anything like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the American people truly understood what a war with Iran would be like, there would be millions of protesters in front of the White House right now trying to stop it from happening. Without a doubt, the Iranian government is deeply evil, but the Iranians also possess weapons of mass destruction and they control a vast global terror network, unlike anything the world has ever seen before. A full-blown war with Iran would be the stuff that nightmares are made out of, and it would unleash death and destruction on an unimaginable scale all over the planet. Perhaps it is already too late to stop what is going to happen, but I very much hope that is not true.
After news broke on Friday that Iran had seized two British oil tankers, President Trump told the press that “Iran is in big trouble”…
President Donald Trump said Friday that the Islamic Republicn of Iran has endangered itself by seizing a pair of British oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
‘Iran is showing their true colors,’ he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House has he departed for a weekend in New Jersey.
‘Iran is in big trouble.’
That doesn’t mean that airstrikes are imminent, but it does mean that we are a lot closer to military conflict than we were before.
Personally, I have no idea what Iran is thinking. When the Iranians seized a British oil tanker named “Stena Impero” on Friday, it made headlines all over the world…
The U.K.-flagged Stena Impero, which has a crew of 23 aboard, “was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters,” Stena Bulk, the shipping company that owns the vessel, said in a statement. “We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces, in a statement on their website, say the ship was seized for “non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations” and is being brought to an unnamed Iranian port, according to the Associated Press. Websites tracking the ship’s path showed it turning sharply in the direction of Iran’s Qeshm Island, instead of its intended destination of Saudi Arabia.
Of course, it is also possible that the Iranians are being set up. According to Iranian media, the Stena Impero “had turned off its GPS locator” and had “tried to enter the Strait of Hormuz in an area where most ships exit”.
If those claims are true, then that certainly puts a much different spin on the story.
Almost an hour later, the Iranians briefly seized a second oil tanker, but after issuing a warning the Iranians let it go…
Approximately an hour later, a Liberian-flagged tanker operated by a British company was also seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was seen on maritime tracking services making a turn toward Iran. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency later claimed that the second ship, known as the Mesdar, was warned to comply with environmental regulations before being allowed to continue on its way.
Needless to say, the British government is deeply concerned about these developments, and Iranian officials are being warned of “serious consequences” if the Stena Impero is not immediately released…
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Iran of “serious consequences” if its military does not return control of the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, according to Sky News. He said British action will be “robust” but also emphasized “we’re not looking at military options” at this early stage.
Hunt said he’s seeking to urgently speak to Iran’s foreign minister, currently unreachable as he’s on a plane flying back from a UN meeting in New York, and hopes the crisis will be resolved diplomatically.
Of course, this is just the latest in a long string of incidents which have steadily brought us closer to war. I covered the developments which we witnessed on Wednesday and Thursday in this article, and the following is a timeline of events which the Daily Mail put together…
May 12: Four commercial oil tankers attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Washington accuses Tehran, which denies all involvement.
June 13: A Japanese and Norwegian fuel tanker are hit by mysterious blasts while passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Again, Iran denies involvement.
June 14: U.S. Military releases video ‘proving’ Iranian involvement in the earlier attacks.
June 20: Iran downs a $130m US surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz
July 4: Royal Marines Commandos detain the Grace 1 Iranian tanker in Gibraltar which is accused of busting EU Syrian sanctions
July 11: Iran tries to interfere with a UK-registered tanker but is warned off by the Royal Navy.
July 14: Iran seizes the Panama-flagged ‘Riah’.
July 18: The USS Boxer shoots down an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz which it claimed was endangering the vessel.
July 19: Iran seizes British-flagged ‘Stena Impero’.
July 19: Iran seizes a second British-linked vessel, the Mesdar.
Before I end this article, I want to make a couple of observations about Iran.
Firstly, the Iranians are obviously not afraid of a war with the western powers, because otherwise they would not dare to seize oil tankers.
What is making the Iranians so confident? Could it be possible that they have weapons that we don’t know about?
Secondly, the Iranians may feel like they have been pushed so far into a corner that they have no choice but to push back.
Let me give you one example of what I am talking about. Two Iranian cargo ships arrived in Brazil earlier this year, but now they are trapped because the Brazilians won’t sell them enough fuel to get home…
Reuters explained on Friday that the cargo ships Bavand and Termeh arrived in Brazil a few months ago to deliver a shipment of petrochemical fertilizer and pick up loads of corn. The Bavand was loaded up with 50,000 tons of corn and the Termeh is supposed to take on another 66,000 tons.
Carrying food back to Iran is legal under U.S. sanctions and Iran buys a great deal of corn from Brazil, but unfortunately for the Iranian captains, the Petrobras subsidiary that sells maritime fuel in Brazilian ports cited the U.S. sanctions and refused to refuel the ships. The Iranian government might need to send a tanker loaded with fuel all the way to Brazil to get the cargo vessels and their loads of corn.
The U.S. policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran was intended to get them to fold, but instead it might just be making them so frustrated that they will lash out in anger and set off the spark that causes World War 3 to erupt.
And the U.S. military has been preparing for a coming war with Iran for quite some time. Last month U.S. troops began arriving at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in August…
In June the U.S. military began moving equipment and hundreds of troops back to a military base in Saudi Arabia that the U.S. deserted more than 15 years ago, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the deployment.
Over the coming weeks the deployment to Prince Sultan Air Base, intended to counter the threat from Iran, will grow to include fighter jets and Patriot long-range missile defense systems, the officials said. The Patriots have already arrived at the base and should be operational in mid-July, while the aircraft are expected to arrive in August.
The moment missiles start flying back and forth, the price of oil is going to go into the stratosphere and the global financial system will be thrown into chaos.
And when terror attacks on western soil start happening, people will be desperate for the violence to stop, but by then it will be too late.
It appears that we are about to get a war that we do not need and that we do not want, and this comes at a time when so many other elements of “the perfect storm”are coming together.
Unfortunately, I don’t see a lot of urgency among the American people to try to stop this war from taking place. I think that a lot of people simply do not believe that it will actually happen, and many others seem to assume that we will beat the living daylights out of the Iranians without much damage on our end. Of course a large chunk of the population is so addicted to entertainment that they have absolutely no idea what is going on in the rest of the world.
Yes, there are a few voices that are speaking out against a war with Iran, and that is a good thing.
But for the most part we are sleepwalking toward World War 3, and once it begins there will be no turning back.
I have met many people from Iran and they are very nice and hospitable people as you can find on earth. War is war and the elite want it and they get whatever they want. Pull the trigger and lets get it done with. I am sick of waiting. What will be will be.
“LITERALLY”. seriously? I’m so tired of the misuse of that word. As an alternative, are we are going to have war start figuratively at any moment? LOL.
There never be a global conflict unless the controllers completely lose control. there will always be constant, ongoing regional conflicts in safe, primitive areas to keep us occupied.
” Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia”
Trump is used car salesman. He will say ANYTHING to achieve his goal of the moment.
* Is there Border Security? No.
* Has a wall been built? No.
* Did Trump make peace with Russia? No.
* Did Trump make peace in Syria? No. He wasted millions of dollars by using expensive, hard to replace, missles on pointless targets. Telling the enemy that “missles on the way.”
Trump will say anything. He does damn little as promised.
So about this war. Just what exactly are we supposed to do about it? Please Tell me.
Hoard preps? Or sit in lawn chair at ground zero with twelve pack and watch the show?
These Idiot politicians will not be content until they get us ALL killed and civilization put back into stone age. Seems to be their insane mission.
Does the press realize that Trump can launch nukes?
Do US politicians not know that Russia has nukes and effective delivery systems? Boomer subs off both US coasts.
Do US politicians know that China has nukes and it seems they want to use them? China Keeps making veiled threats in their propaganda.
What if once US attacks Iran that, Iran-Russia-China-North Korea, ALL cohesively ATTACK US?
We must learn to Live together in Peace, or loose civilization. No one seems to understand this.
This world is currently being ran by inbred selfish greed filled Lunatics with, no morals/self control. So again I ask, “how are we going to stop the madness of a nuclear war?”
If you were a jew in 1939. How exactly would you stop Hitler? The world leaders ALLOWED Hitler to happen. Just as world leaders are ALLOWING Iran war that may lead to World Wide nuclear war. Lunatics run the Asylum.
The Iranian Government is not evil.You should be ashamed of yourselves for repeating the rubb!sh which has been used to destroy the Middle East.,Israel is the Evil Regime in the area and unless we take care of that nothing will change.
I think that a lot of people simply do not believe that it will actually happen, and many others seem to assume that we will beat the living daylights out of the Iranians without much damage on our end.
LOL the grid will go down instantly. What, you think they don’t have sleeper agents all over the goddamned place here?
So much for voting against the warmonger candidate…
Off topic but it suddenly dawns on me why Hillary was foaming at the mouth with the nukes on the campaign trail…
She wanted to appear like a “strong woman, strong as any man”.
Sigh.
These people spend so much time hating and envying men that they seriously have no fucking idea what makes men tick, and as such adopt an “evil super villain” immoral asshole persona in an attempt to emulate what they despise.
Ok, hint. A hyper aggressive male is a WEAK MALE. All males know this. We look for hyper aggression in opponents. It directly equates to insecurity and it’s very easily exploitable. I should know I’ve done it three times.
Take off the envy filled glasses and you might start to see straight. People are blocking ALL OF YOU militant man hating types PRECISELY BECAUSE you read instinctively as equivalent to WEAK MALES. Well except less in control of yourselves because you vehemently deny yourselves at the same time.
Trump is now going hyper-aggressive.
This makes me profoundly uncomfortable. No group of males wants to be led by a hyper aggressive (insecure) man-boy. Or woman-boy for that matter. You know the consequences. Anyone with half an active brain cell can jerk them around like a reactionary puppet.
What can I tell you. This is a deeply ingrained male instinct. So deeply ingrained that we can’t even look to the future for fear of it in the present.
All I can tell you is on the campaign trail, he came off as more self controlled. That tipped it into the net. Of course I knew from his history he wasn’t. That said, I could be thrown into hell RIGHT NOW with her…
Well. That and she promotes a multiplication of the behavior throughout the female population. You’d have to be blind as a bat to not see that one. It’s been going on too long to ignore.
Caught FOX news in a lie yesterday. A few major airlines cancelled flights to Egypt for a week. Because of threats from the US backed terror group ISIS. FOX claimed the cancellations were because of Iran. Iran has not threatened Egypt. Because the US lies so much, I have to conclude their will be a limited war. The Globalists are going to destroy us.
Who needs war when you have football?
I suspect Iran will bomb Israel, too. That’s when the shit gets interesting. All those born again TV evangelists sitting in their living rooms and munching on GMOs from Walmart will wake from their dreamstate and discover that the world is bigger and more animated than Disney.
.
Sounds like sheeptard ramblings.
Did that “evil Iran” have WMDs in 1953 when the US and Britain overthrew the elected government in Operation Ajax? Or is there some other reason, like hydrocarbons, that explain a war with Iran? Methinks Mr Snyder is being led around by the nose by the likes of John Hagee and Jim Bakker. I’ve seen him on Bakker’s show several times. The prevailing narrative with Evangelical Christians is “evil Iran, angelic Israel”. They use Bibi’s cartoon bomb drawing as proof of Iranian WMDs. Stop believing the B team (Bibi, Bolton, Bin Salman, Bin Sayed). Stop listening to Fox, CNN, MSNBC, Bright Bart, NY Times and WaPo. Dig a little deeper on the web and you will eventually see a different and truer story. You must remember that in 2014 Congress changed the laws regarding domestic propaganda. It used to be against the law to feed the American public propaganda…it is now legal and encouraged by the bosses.
“It used to be against the law to feed the American public propaganda…it is now legal and encouraged by the bosses.”
I don’t know if it was against the law previously but for sure lying has been a mainstay of government. In 2014 they just codified that it’s legal for the governors to lie to the governed.
So I must ask what I always ask when this statement is made: when did (((they))) start lying to us?
Was it before WWII? Were they telling us the truth about the rationale for war then (or WWI, for that matter)?
Were they lying before then, then miraculously started telling us the truth about that war, then started lying again afterwards?
It is my contention that they have ALWAYS lied to us about every war rationale. ALWAYS!
Now what to do with that?
Lest we forget….The US paid Saddam to invade Iran. This started a long war that cost the Iranians 1 million dead. They were human beings also. They had families. The Globalists won’t be happy until the world is on fire. Including the US. May God have mercy on our souls.
The plan was three world wars to cement total control of every nation on Earth. The globalist fake money printers are past ready to get it underway. I don’t believe one word out of US intelligence or the Pentagon. We are being led to total destruction from within. Where is the public outcry? Zzzz
Agree: we are on a time table. I thought it was going to happen in 2005. We were ready to go and had completed our work in Central Asia setting up bases.
I think Russia has been the wrinkle. The Russians have check mated every time we were ready to light Iran up.
Now the Chinese are a factor.
The longer the US waits the less likely it will happen because it is proof the US can’t do it.
Iranians are great people and the women are very hot. A war would be a tragedy.
Iran does not have nuclear weapons. They don’t even have a nuclear weapons program – and never did, except for a “feasibility study” back before 2003 when they were afraid Saddam Hussein had one. Anyone who says differently is an idiot. Even Israeli intelligence – despite what Netanyahu tells everyone – agrees with all US intelligence agencies – despite what Trump tells you – that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program.
In the end, the goal of the US is war with Iran for the benefit of Israel, the US military-industrial complex, the oil companies, and the banks who finance them, and to allow the neocons to believe they are the “Masters of the World.”
And there is nothing anyone can do to stop it, short of China and Russia signing a mutual defense treaty with Iran – which neither country is likely to do.
What can be guaranteed is that when the war starts, the oil price will spike to $200 a barrel or more – and you will be paying $20/gallon at the pump to fill your tank. Because Iran will close the Straits of Hormuz – and despite Colonel Pat Lang’s fantasy that the US Navy can reopen them, they will stay closed.
THE FIGHTIN SIDE OF ME
” I hear people takin bad,
about the way we have to live here in this country,
Harpin on the wars we fight, and gripin ’bout the way thing ought to be.
An’I don’t mind them swithin sides,
An’ standin up for things that they believe in.
when they’re runnin down my country man,
They’er walkin on the fightn’ side of me”.
God Bless America and all of Her fightn’ men/women!
Go..go..Seminole Wind! Got your back and your front. God Bless the USA!
I don’t agree a WW III will result from this flare up. WW I started from a Germany army that wanted to flex it’s muscles.
WW II, Basically another German army and Japanese army wanting to build an empire.
Our problem today is Militant Islam against the world.
Every country in the world has a Moslem problem already.
China is dealing with theirs. Russia can easily fix their problem.
western Europe isn’t dealing with theirs but who cares? They don’t.
A single missile from a British submarine can virtually eliminate the government of Iran and their main oil shipping island. That is not a world war. That is thinking outside the box. Don’t invade, don’t occupy, blockade and isolate Iran. Let Turkey and Pakistan fight over what is left.
The terrorism that may be released has an easy solution. Hunt down every Moslem in the country and put them in camps. The government can legally do that in a state of emergency. Ignore the courts. Courts have NO enforcement powers. Presidents Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, FDR provided precedents.
I agree: nuke the power center and then let a Muslim coalition fight over what’s left.
And use the opportunity to use war powers to remove Muslims from Western countries. One or two who are no threat can stay but make sure they don’t go past 1% of the population.
All of this would settle down within five years. By separating the West from Islam the terror threat would go down and most Muslim countries despise Iran so they can carry on fighting with each other over it. We make money on the weapons sales and take our holidays in other countries (sorry!? No more surf and beach holidays in Yemen). World is still a big place!
If a nut with a nuke wants to start a war, nothing will stop him. Whether WW3 results has more to do with what the rest of the nuclear powers do than the nut with a nuke.
TPTB which includes neo-cons, Zionists (both domestic and Israeli), and the Mil. Ind. Comp., to name a few, want on-going wars and global or regional hegemony. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of untold numbers of Amer. youth and bankrupt the country to achieve their goals. These goals do not benefit the US. Iran poses zero existential threat to the US, but it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that it somehow benefits Israel, who no doubt are more than happy to let Americans die for them. What makes this even more disturbing is that TPTB have consistently supported Islamic entities who attack and destroy Christian populations throughout the Mid-East. TPTB also keeps animosity stoked between the US and Russia, they have been provoking Russia, and scheming for ways to finish them off (won’t happen). It appears the fact that Russia has basically abandoned communism and is experiencing a resurgence in Russian Orthodoxy is likely one factor why TPTB now hate Russia.
Amer.’s are being spoon-fed complete BS about all the strife fomenting in the Gulf, as if Iran is the one aching for a hot war against the US, Israel, Great Britain, and Saudi Arabia – yeah right. TPTB are deploying the same precedents (false flags) they have used to get the US involved in previous unpopular wars. I believe some of Snyder’s comments in his article are BS too.
The Amer. public does not want more war, every military theater in the Mid-East since 1990 is still a huge mess in crisis, almost nothing that benefited the US was accomplished, all at the cost of thousands of Amer. lives and trillions of dollars.
I am an ex-military man myself with several years of honorable service, there are many many thousands of ex-serviceman who feel just as I do. Amer. fighting men are not disposable.
The reason Iran wants a conflict with the west is religious, they believe their mahdi will come during a time of massive turmoil to lead Muslims to world conquest
I’m sure some of you may disagree, but I think that Trump made a grievous mistake pulling out of the JCPOA. He’s bungled foreign policy all the way around. There are rumors that Iran has had nuclear weapons since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and even one itsy bitsy bomb strike could set things off. But whatever Bibi wants, he gets. Personally, I have no more love for Israel than I have for Lichtenstein. A world war or even another Middle East debacle is not in our interest. But, that’s just me.
Ahh. Another Michael Snyder article…
Of all his doom & gloom, I hope this time he is finally right. My wife is dead, my kid is dead and even my dog has now died; I hope WW3 happens this week. I’m not kidding. Life sucks and it is about time everyone gets a taste of it. Unfortunately, It will probably not happen, but instead turn into just another long drawn out MIC war. Too bad.
WTex
Wish I had more for you. Words fall short. But life and times are rough for most of us. Things will get better. Get outside. Get yourself another dog or two. Dogs make you get outdoors/exercise. Exercise, sunshine, walking dogs, and a couple of beers, staying busy with projects, ALL help adjust your mental and emotional state. Work towards positive.
Heartfelt condolences for your loss/problems. I too have been there. So have those I cared for, Now gone. Find yourself a church. Find a Christian bible and do some reading. Find a charity to donate some time to. Get out of the house, Help others. There are many vets in VA Hospital that wish they had your problems and loss. Pay them a visit. Many of those men have no one. When I see other mens problems I am thankful that I don’t have their problems.
A man must never allow heartache/heartbreak to get the better of him for too long. Fight it like any other enemy combatant. With courage, hope, faith, resolve, and hopefully superior firepower. That firepower would be knowing Jesus Christ. He wins in the end. So will you as his child. You will overcome all adversity as a child of God. One day we will be with those we love and lost. Live your life well. Spend your time well. Our time here is short.
–May God of Christ Jesus bless you, keep you.
Michael Snyder is a fear porn blogger and a flunkie lawyer. He knows next to nothing about economics, history, the Bible or the Military. He is full of hype and out right lies.
Why is this site two days behind with latest articles?
Aljamo, shadow banning. You have to refresh to get to the current stuff. Then you have to refresh to get to the latest comments.
Am I the only one who ponders why we’re not at war with Mexico? An entire country over run by mafia, most deadly place to be a politician and journalist on the entire planet. I see a middle easterner now and then, don’t like it but they’re here and there. I see foreign south of the border illegals daily and they’re flashing gang signs, stealing cars, being generally abusive, etc. It occurred to me, why do we abide this but then make such a big deal about arabs? Chaos by design I suppose. Not to minimize the importance of this article but I find it odd that nobody talks about ‘helping’ the citizens of these Mexican and South American countries. And our soldiers could rotate in and out with ease, driving trucks to get there. Somehow it’s more important to invade the middle east, again? Does not compute.
SHTF is promoting fear porn and pure crap. Michael Snyder is a know nothing dickhead. Why do you publish his rubbish? He knows nothing.
This article is pure hyperbole, nothing more. But one thing it did was bring out the sheer stupidity of the Iran apologists and put the retards on full display. Iran good, Israel bad…..useful idiots, oh and throw in a healthy dose of America hate as well. As my uncle Marl used to say “goofy as a run over road lizard”! Or just trolling, but I think not, they really are that dumb. Sickening. Israel didn’t kidnap 52 American citizens and hold them hostage for over 400 days; Iran did. The mullahs encourage jihad and killing innocent men, women, and children simply for their nationality and religious beliefs, not the Israelis. Iran shouts “death to America”, Israel does not. …..so y’all just go ahead and blame it all on USA, I can hear the screeching now….waaaaah…waaaaah