Iran Commandeers An American Vessel in the Strait of Hormuz

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7 pm Israel time, Monday, April 27 2015

**What happened just after noon today in the north remains unclear.

Incoming missile sirens blared across the Golan Heights. The IDF immediately suggested that the sirens were a result of “human error”. Then, residents reported having heard explosions. Shortly thereafter, the IDF changed its tune and said that two mortars had exploded in Israel.

(How many hundreds of times have we heard the same tired song sung by the IDF in the South when Palestinian Hamas missiles have struck southern Israel?)

But at the same time as the IDF admitted that projectiles had indeed fallen, it also claimed that the mortars were nothing more than “leakage”–that groups inside Syria had been battling each other and a few mortars had been “accidentally” fired into Israel.

That claim was immediately countered by various sources within Syria, Lebanon, and Iran which declared that Israel had been deliberately targeted.

So what is the bottom line? Based on our experience with IDF claims in southern Israel , we at israelstreet strongly doubt the IDF version of events.

It is plainly obvious that a war is coming on Syrian and Lebanese borders.

**The attempts of Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition continue to run into serious difficulties. 

With only 8 days to go until the final deadline, one of the parties that had previously been thought to be on board with Netanyahu, United Torah Judaism, suddenly announced this afternoon that it is pulling out of coalition negotiations over demands that orthodox families receive funds to replace funds that were reduced in the last year.

In another coalition “situation”, Naftali Bennett’s demand to become Education Minister (after having been denied the Defense and Foreign Ministries) has caused a major outcry among senior Likud officials who demand that their party have the Education Ministry.

Is all of this merely “gamesmanship”? Yes and no. These are fundamental difficulties which Netanyahu will have an arduous time solving. But now that the deadline grows near, deals will be made.

By the way, it has just been announced that United Torah Judaism has returned to the negotiating table with Likud.

TODAY’S BLOG: 

There are reports in the last hour from Al-Arabiya news that the Iranian navy has intercepted, boarded, and “captured” an American cargo vessel.  The ship, with 34 American crewmen, is currently being towed to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

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Bandar Abbas is located on the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and is home to the Iranian navy’s largest base.

Your humble servant wonders what feeble response the Obama Administration will muster in response to this Iranian provocation.  Here are the possibilities:

1.  Obama will claim that the government in Tehran had nothing to do with it.

2. Obama and Kerry will plead with the Iranians to discuss the situation.

3. Obama will ask the United Nations to intercede.

4. Obama will send Kerry to Tehran to negotiate a release of the vessel and Americans.

5. Obama will promise to withdraw American forces from the waters around Yemen in return for the release of the ship.

One thing is for sure. Whatever military leverage American once had in the region is long gone, and whatever respect that anyone in the region had for the American president is also long gone.