I wasn’t sharp enough when I wrote the last post, Showdown With Iran.

Obviously I knew what Iranian Defense Minister Vahidi said, that Iran “… has also options to retaliate in kind” if any Iranian ships are boarded under the new US sanctions signed by President Obama.

But it just didn’t penetrate. And woe to the powers-that-be in the US if they are having the same problem understanding. (more…)

Setting up a blockade against a country is not an act of war, according to international law.

Putting the blockade into effect by stopping a ship with the intent of searching it… is an act of war.

President Obama today signed into law a series of very strong sanctions against Iran, the most important being measures against the importation of gasoline. This is the kind of sanction the Chinese in particular did not want to see happen, because it will greatly affect the common man in Iran. It is the kind of sanction Israel did want to see happen, because this a way to really hurt Iran, and ostensibly the only way to get them to drop their nuclear program short of war. Clearly, the US agrees with that assessment.

Ah, but it actually makes war a more distinct and imminent probability.

Iranian Defense Minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, who was specifically blacklisted in today’s US sanctions, warned of ‘dire consequences’ if Iranian ships are stopped and inspected, anywhere in the world. (more…)