Wednesday, April 15FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE
Mysterious SINKING of Iranian Warship just after New President Elected
Posted by: John Phoenix
VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct “aid” and $ 130B in “Offense” contracts Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
by Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio
«An Iranian warship partially sank on Sunday afternoon with the loss of two sailors, after what authorities said was an “accident”, state-affiliated media reported. The Sahand “suffered from an accident … and part of the destroyer went underwater” in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the Mehr news agency reported».
This has written a few hours ago Robert Tollast on MENA oulet. Bandar Abbas is the capital of Hormozgan province, on the southern coast of Iran, in the Persian Gulf.
One of Iran’s most modern and strategic warships has mysteriously sunk in the port where it was still in the south of the country.
At the moment the news has not yet been released by official government websites (Press TV, Tasnim or the IRNA agency) but according to the online newspaper MENA it would be an apparently – for now – difficult to explain incident.
Mysterious Sinking after the Election of the New Iranian President and the Fatal Accident in Raisi
This episode goes a little to overshadow the still heated celebrations for the nomination of the new president of the Republic of Iran, the moderate reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, elected on Friday in the early elections called after the sudden death of the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi who died in the very mysterious crash of his helicopter on May.
New Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian
Pezeshkian, of Azeri and Kurdish origins, has been a member of parliament for the city of Tabriz for years. Massoud Pezeshkian received more than 16 million votes – with over 53% of the vote – against his opponent’s over 13 million.
“We will extend the hand of friendship to everyone for the progress of our country,” the new president said on national television, thanking all his supporters.
While affirming his loyalty to the Islamic Republic, the man Iranians call the “doctor” calls for “constructive relations” with Washington and European countries to “bring Iran out of its isolation. “Friends of everyone”except Israel”, he had said during the election campaign.
“I also advise Dr. Pezeshkian, president-elect, to trust in the merciful God, to look to high and clear horizons and to continue the path of the martyr Raisi, making use of the abundant capabilities of the country, especially of young people, revolutionaries and faithful resources”, he said Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a message of congratulations and praise to all those who went to the polls.
At the moment there are no elements that can lead to the assumption that the sinking of the Sahand destroyer is attributable to sabotage or an external attack but the hypothesis cannot be ruled out a priori given the rumors about the sabotage of Raisi’s helicopter fueled by the media pro-government Russians.
Iranian warship Sahand capsizes in dock after ‘accident’
The Iranian Student’s News Agency posted a similar report, citing media affiliated to the Defence Ministry, saying parts of the vessel were submerged and teams were working to “balance” the ship.
The accident was probably caused by “problems in the ship’s balance tank or water infiltration during repairs”, it quoted Salman Zarbi, head of Iran’s Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex (Isoico) as saying.
Iranian Warship Sahand
The Sahand, a missile-carrying warship, was built by Iran’s naval ship manufacturer Nedaja and was launched in 2012. The vessel is referred to as a destroyer in Iranian media, but at around 2,000 tonnes, it is closer to the corvette class of ship, a small type of naval vessel.
It was named after another vessel that was sunk by the US military in 1988, during a day-long clash in the Arabian Sea, a naval battle that followed Iranian sea mine-laying, which damaged a US warship. The ship may now be removed for repairs, Mr Zarbi added.
Naval power symbol
After its launch, the ship, which can carry one Bell helicopter, eight anti-ship missiles and two torpedoes, patrolled the waterways of the region, escorting Iranian-flagged ships in the gulfs of Aden and Oman during heightened tensions with the US and Israel.
«The Sahand did not make its maiden voyage until 2019, however, a year after the Trump administration’s ending of the 2015 nuclear deal, which had allowed for UN inspections of sites linked to Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of western sanctions on the regime» adds MENA.
During this period, the Sahand was deployed as far afield as the Baltic Sea and Venezuela but was not linked to any attacks on civilian vessels
«Iran and the US continue to seize tankers, with Washington’s naval forces seizing vessels the US says are carrying oil in breach of sanctions, while Iran has responded in kind, with its latest ship seizure in January. Iran’s navy said the seizure of the St Nicholas was “in retaliation for the theft of oil by the American regime”» journalist Robert Tollast wrote.
The attacks are similar to actions by the Iran-backed Houthi group in the Red Sea, an attempt to blockade the critical waterway. The Sahand, however, had not yet been involved in what Iran says is a campaign to protect vessels in the area.
