"Iranians stormed an asphalt tanker and tried to take it to their home country but the crew sabotaged the engines of the vessel so it could not move, according to UK government sources."
'...“Then US and Omani warships turned up and the Iranians got into some boats and went off.” The source said the crew were safe and no one was injured' thetimes.co.uk/article/iran-m…
.@ArgusMedia: "in the recording, a crew member ... said that there were "5-6 Iranians" on board and that the ship was drifting. Asked what the Iranians wanted, the crew member said he did not understand and suggested the coastguards talk directly to them.' argusmedia.com/en/news/224091…
That's "according to a recording of communications between the ship and the UAE coastguard heard by Argus." argusmedia.com/en/news/224091…
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Update: UK now denies that warning shots were fired at HMS Defender or bombs dropped in her path; says she was "conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters", and that Russia was conducting a previously-announced gunnery exercise.
Interesting. Though of course the UK's claim is that it was in Ukrainian territorial waters, without specifying whether that means Crimean territorial waters (and thus Russian-claimed) or somewhere else.
On innocent passage, Russia prior position relevant here. "Russia has adopted several laws which require prior notification & authorization that some states argue are contrary to...regime of innocent passage & freedom of navigation" munin.uit.no/bitstream/hand…
A pretty serious escalation between the UK and Russia. (It suggests, also, that the UK was serious when it talked about a more assertive, forward posture in the Integrated Operating Concept and recent defence command paper.
"Competing involves a campaign posture that includes continuous operating on our terms and in places of our choosing. It will also require actions to be communicated in ways that may test the traditional limits of statecraft." gov.uk/government/pub…
"As noted by the Russian military, at 11:52 the British ship crossed the Russian border & entered the territorial sea at Cape Fiolent for 3km. He was warned about the use of weapons in the event of a border violation, but the destroyer crew did not react" ria.ru/20210623/korab…
"Within the classified realm, a significant amount of the intelligence the US obtained [on lab-escale hypothesis] came from foreign governments, according to former officials with knowledge of the matter." washingtonpost.com/national-secur… Interesting to speculate: which agencies?
"Pottinger was frustrated when intelligence officials deferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts to determine the virus’s origin, according to people who worked with him." washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
'One former senior official who worked closely with Pompeo said the secretary of state became fixated on proving a lab leak. “He wanted a smoking gun, and we couldn’t give it to him,” the former official said.' washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
Fiona Hill's diagnosis of Russia's disinformation blitz against the United States: “They’ve been trying to prove that they are a major cyber force — they want to create a wartime scenario so then they can sit down and agree some kind of truce with us.” ft.com/content/51fc3b…
"US officials and researchers believe some of the recent [Russian] forays into the information space have been more subtle, relying on real sources ... One example has been the number of stories in recent weeks flagging concerns over Biden’s health." ft.com/content/51fc3b…
“When it comes to US domestic narratives, they’re almost always piggybacking on something that exists,” says Schafer. “From the official sources we very rarely see something that you would categorise as being invented”.' ft.com/content/51fc3b…
NATO on China: "We are concerned by China’s coercive policies which stand in contrast to the fundamental values enshrined in the Washington Treaty ... We also remain concerned about China’s use of disinformation." nato.int/cps/en/natohq/…
"We will engage China with a view to defending the security interests of the Alliance. We are increasingly confronted by cyber, hybrid, and other...threats, incl disinformation campaigns, and by the malicious use of ever-more sophisticated...technologies" nato.int/cps/en/natohq/…
Interesting to see NATO echo elements of UK defence command paper. "We will emphasise persistent activities in peacetime to support deterrence, including through the presence and dynamic posture of our military forces and exercises" nato.int/cps/en/natohq/…
On the saturation of Iron Dome. "The cost of interception is high. The cost of the interceptor missile is about $40,000-50,000. Furthermore, in some cases, two interceptor missiles are fired at one target, which further raises the cost of interception." inss.org.il/wp-content/upl…
"The system has a “saturation point.” It is capable of engaging a certain (unpublished) number of targets at the same time, and no more. Additional rockets fired in a crowded salvo could succeed in breaching defenses and cause damage" inss.org.il/wp-content/upl…
On Iron Dome's utility: "missile defenses do create conditions for enhanced freedom of action for decision makers–defense systems ensure that they have time, and are not compelled to resort automatically to preemption and retaliation" inss.org.il/wp-content/upl…