Iran flexes its mouth, again

There is nothing in the Koran that forbids foreign planes from flying in international airspace.  But Iran, nevertheless, has threatened to shoot down two U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft that have done just that. Our military has broken no international laws but Iran continues to provoke us.

The two planes, a Navy P-8 Poseidon and an EP-3 Eries admittedly flew close to Iranian territory, but they were clearly within international air over the Persian Gulf this weekend.

On September 10th the Poseidon with a crew of nine, and the Eries with a crew of two dozen, were flying a reconnaissance mission 13 miles off the coast of Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. International waters extends 12 miles and we were within our right to be there.

During the flight, Iranian military warned both aircraft to change course or risk getting shot down.

Our planes ignored the warning and continued to fly in international airspace. "We wanted to test the Iranian reaction," a US official told the media when asked about why the jets came so close to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"It's one thing to tell someone to get off your lawn, but we weren't on their lawn," the official said. "Anytime you threaten to shoot someone down, it's not considered professional."

Another official said the incident wasn't considered "unsafe" [for him] because there were no Iranian missile launchers in the area, according to the latest intelligence reports.

This is just the latest incident whereby Iran has harassed us, but this time we used our two 'birds' to flip them the bird.

Last month, Iranian vessels harassed US Navy warships in the Persian Gulf at least 5 times. In one case the US fired 3 warning shots by a US Navy coastal patrol craft, when an Iranian vessel ignored repeated radio calls to change course. Another incident was when an Iranian craft stopped 100 yards from the bow of a US Navy ship forcing it to take evasive action.

A senior Iranian military commander dismissed our claims that his vessels harassed our ships in the Persian Gulf, saying his nation acted in accordance with internationally recognized maritime law, sounding a bit like a Clinton campaign official.

"Iranian boats continue to act based on defined standards and are well aware of the international laws and regulations, so the claims are not only untrue, but stem from their fear of the power of Iran's soldiers," claimed Brig. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces.

It is believed that if the United States had a president who was not Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, the chances are excellent that incidents such as these would dramatically decrease.



Tweet