Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander, has recently been crowing about how the Islamic Republic of Iran had managed to disrupt traffic in the Persian Gulf, and now it is doing the same in the Red Sea. Full of braggadocio, he threatens that now the Islamic Republic will close off the entire Mediterranean Sea, and keep it closed until Israel halts its war in Gaza.
The Arabs call the Mediterranean El-Bahr el-Abiadh el-Moutawwassit, “la mer blanche du milieu” in French, and “the white sea in the middle [of the world]” in English. In the time of the Barbary Pirates, Muslim corsairs from North Africa would attack ships of the Christian powers throughout the Mediterranean, seizing the ships and enslaving their Christian seamen. Payment of a large ransom could sometimes, but not always, obtain the freeing both of the sailors and of the ships. Such attacks came to an end when the seamen of the young American Republic made war, successfully, on those they called the Barbary Pirates, and thereby put paid to those attacks on Christian ships by Muslim privateers. The Iranians ought to remember that history; it did not end well for the Muslims.
More on the threats of the Iranian boaster Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi can be found here: “Iran threatens Mediterranean closure over Gaza, without saying how,” i24News, December 23, 2023:
Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen has over the past month attacked merchant vessels sailing through the Red Sea as the group threatens to hit any Israel-linked ship. The series of incidents led some shipping companies to switch routes.
The White House on Friday [Dec. 22] said Iran was “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The US on Monday announced plans to spearhead an international maritime coalition, responding to escalating attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels.
Perhaps, in threatening to close down the Mediterranean, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Naqdi was carried away by the recent success of the Islamic Republic’s proxies, the Houthis of Yemen, in using drones to attack ships in the Red Sea, causing commercial shipping in that international waterway to be halted. But now that the Americans have created an international coalition of naval powers to provide security in the Red Sea against Houthi drones, one can reasonably expect that they will no longer merely defend against those attacks, but will take the battle right to the Houthis in Yemen, with airstrikes on drone storehouses and Houthi fighters, crippling the Houthis as a military power.
Iran has no direct access to the Mediterranean itself and it was not clear how the Guards could attempt to close it off, although Naqdi talked of “the birth of new powers of resistance and the closure of other waterways.”
“Yesterday, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz became a nightmare for them, and today they are trapped … in the Red Sea,” Naqdi was quoted as saying.
Just a minute, Brigadier General Naqdi. Last I looked, oil tankers were moving freely down the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz out to the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. And ships that had in previous weeks been avoiding the Red Sea, including those of shipping giant Maersk, are at the end of December using that sea route again. For the world’s maritime companies and countries have received confirmation that the previously announced multi-national security initiative, Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), has now been set up and deployed to allow maritime commerce to pass through the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and once again to return to using the Suez Canal as of December 24.
That same Operation Prosperity Guardian could organize and send a multi-national flotilla right now, as a prompt response to Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi’s threat to “block the Mediterranean,” and station it smack in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar, ready to blow out of the water any Iranian ship that dared to come close. That will be the end result of Naqdi’s empty threat. It’s just one more example — there are so many — of the braggart warriors in Tehran, shooting themselves in the foot.
Frank Anderson says
Before Pearl Harbor forced the US to come into WWII, it was raging in Europe, China, the Atlantic and many other countries and places. But the US wanted to stay isolated and in a delusional denial that war could be somebody else’s problem. If Ukraine is forced to cede territory to the Russians for a temporary peace, as Czechoslovakia was done before by Chamberlain and Daladier, Ukraine will be taken later when Putin has the strength to finish the job. The US must deal with its open border and all other challenges, or it will cease to exist. All must be confronted or the one that is not will be fatal. When will the “Axis of Evil” do enough to create the next Pearl Harbor moment?
gravenimage says
Spot on, Frank.
James Lincoln says
Tragically true, gravenimage.
tgusa says
People tend to forget that although unprepared, nearly six months to the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the US Navy were sent four Imperial Japanese carriers to the bottom at Midway. But that was when we fought to win and were not concerned with proportionality like we are today. We need to get back to basics and fast.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
During the Cold War, every US president from Nixon to Reagan saw to it that Moscow & Beijing weren’t aligned: that was one of the reasons we could win the Cold War. Today, none of our politicians, nor our “foreign policy experts” are remotely concerned about maintaining that: they somewhat stupidly believe that the US can take on a Sino-Russian axis (forget Iran & N Korea for this discussion)
Problem is: when the next Pearl Harbor moment happens, will we be in any position to take on this alliance? Even assuming that all of NATO supported us (which they don’t)?
SteveC says
Take out a few dozen Iranian gunboats and strafe the boats in yemeni harbors with warthog cannon fire.
They will likely use Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and possibly Egypt. The perfect excuse to erase every vessel full of illegals (aka terrorists) leaving the North African coast.
Kosh's Shadow says
This is why Iran CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
I wrote a scenario a few years ago where Iran gets nukes and threatens not just Israel, but Europe and wherever their weapons can reach if they do not stop Israel from defending itself. The person I sent it to thought it was too outlandish.
As for the current scenario, announce a blockade of Iran. No ships in or out as long as they and their Houthi clients attack shipping. Every attack results in an Iranian ship being seized. Contents to be transferred to Israel.
Reziac says
Did you see the presentation Netanyahu gave a few years ago, where he displayed Israeli intelligence from Iran? The warning was plain, even then.
I would not transfer captured shipping to Israel… because as soon as that became the penalty, you can bet those cargos would be invisibly and lethally contaminated.
FYI says
Well in the infidel language islamic supremacists are called the muthafaqqirs
History won’t end well for the muslims:Zechariah 12-14,the Parousia ….
” wallahu wackbar! as we say in the krull language.”Go away islamic freaks.Shoo!Go away”
Iran is a shite country because Iran is a sh’ite country.
the Iranian peope:They once were the Persians.Then islam came and they went back to the stone age.Their ancestors were way more sophisticated.lslam doesn’t even have the Golden Rule.How primitive is that?
gravenimage says
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Commander Threatens to Close Down the Mediterranean
…………………………………….
Why do we put up with this crap? We should make if *very* clear that that it is unacceptable.
Big Dude says
Remember Barry and Joe
And all the dough
Who’s on the take
Who;s for Mo
I don’t believe what the hell I see
We sliding baby we sliding
Into WW 3
tgusa says
Go ahead and try it I say. In spite of the US Navy’s issues as of late I still think it would take them a day or two to wipe out the entire iranian navy (back in the day it would only take an hour or two). Besides, the iranian big mouths and their navy aren’t anywhere near the capabilities of the Imperial Japanese Navy of the past. They should stick to ambushing unsuspecting civilians and beating up women if they know whats good for them.
Dick Tracy says
You write ‘(…) their navy aren’t anywhere near the capabilities of the Impeial Japanese Navy of the past.’ The comparison should be contemporaneous, so with the present US Navy. And no, they don’t have nuclear subs, or aircraft carriers, or F-35’s, or Wart hogs, or bunker busters, but don’t underestimate the Persians. They have several entirely new approaches to warfare, including naval warfare, such as (I understand) swarms of very small attack boats. But even so, if we’re talking naval activity, they’d have to go through the Suez Canal, wouldn’t they? And if I’m not mistaken the (end of the) Suez Canal is covered by Incirlik airbase, in Turkey. F-35’s have a range of 1,200 N.m., the distance from this air base to Port Said is 435 m. (not sure if N, or L, most likely N), so they’d be blown to smithereens before arriving in the Med. Then again, they might try with their drones (operating as we speak in the Ukraine and in gaza/ Lebanon, I understand, but correct me if I’m wrong), but there I wouldn’t give them a chance either. They would probably not be able to reach the Med from Iran. Perhaps from Irak, or Syria, but hey, who cares.
Anyway, they’d be welcome, so we finally would have to shut down the Med for the ongoing hijrah. Because let’s face it: even the recent EU deal on migration wasn’t intended to stop this. Hey, we’re being guided by traitors. Man, oh man, oh man…
tgusa says
The guides are guiding western countries toward eventual civil war. Evil forces are behind the mass migration. I believe those forces want to see the world burn and for some insane reason they believe they will rise from the ashes creating a world that they desire. Look at what happened to Lebanon to see the future for western countries. One thing is for sure, muslims never change, they always end up doing the same old thing. Man, oh man, is right.
Dick Tracy says
I too would say: bring it on! That would give us the chance to stop the influx at last.
Gourdhead says
When is some country going to take these wankers off the planet?