Satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz

PARIS (Dow Jones)–Iran has no intention of blockading the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, a senior Iranian diplomat said Friday, downplaying threats by others in Tehran.

The remarks by Ali Ahani, Iran’s ambassador to France, are in contrast with threats to close the Strait over the past six weeks that have come from legislators and some members of the country’s Revolutionary Guard. Ahani’s remarks suggest the country’s highest authorities are not backing these threats, which could dampen oil prices that have recently risen on fears of supply disruptions.

Ahani said “we don’t have the intention to close the Strait of Hormuz…That’s our official position.”

He added “our interest demands the free circulation of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Ahani, a seasoned diplomat, was until December the country’s deputy foreign affairs minister in charge of Europe and America.

Threats to close the Strait, just 34 miles wide at its narrowest point, came after the U.S. and its allies turned up the heat on Iran to provide more information on its nuclear program, which it says is peaceful. Western nations have boosted their naval presence in the area, led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The diplomat spoke just before Iranian state media said Saturday the Revolutionary Guard was starting a month of planned maneuvers near the Strait. Ahani said Iran’s military exercises in the area are to “guarantee the security of this strait.”

But the official’s reassurances on the Strait of Hormuz also came with warnings Islamic groups would retaliate against any Israeli military strike on Iran and that an escalation of sanctions could inflame tensions in the Gulf. Asked how Iran would respond if attacked by Israel, the diplomat said “I don’t think the Zionist regime will go in this direction of madness. This could accelerate their collapse.”

As a possible reaction, “there is the solidarity of Muslim people, of Islamic groups who won’t let it happen without response, who will react,” he added. Though he didn’t elaborate on which Islamic groups he was referring to, Hezbollah, a key Iranian ally, has built a significant arsenal of missiles that could strike Israel from Lebanon.

“The Zionist regime and its allies must face the consequences” if Iran is attacked, the ambassador said, without naming the allies.

Ahani also said sanctions against Iran, far from being a way to avoid a military strike, “will aggravate tensions in the region.” Saudi Arabia has pledged to make up for any shortage that could arise from a planned European boycott of Iranian oil.

“There is political pressure on Arab states in this direction” of helping sanctions’ efforts by increasing production, Ahani said. But helping the embargo would be against Saudi Arabia’s long-term interest, he said.

“The implications of these sanctions can have terrible effects of the price of oil” by creating volatility in the oil price. He said an escalation of U.S. sanctions could also contribute to further tensions.

The Senate Banking Committee passed a bill Thursday that could lead to new sanctions and would complicate international dealings with Iran’s central bank.

The U.S. “could cross red lines,” the diplomat said. “If they continue, they will have to assume their responsibilities.”

(c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

This video released today by the Pentagon shows Iranian naval patrol vessels “harassing” the USS New Orleans while sailing in the Strait of Hormuz on January 6. In the video you can see at least 3 vessels speeding alongside the New Orleans and a closeup of one of the vessels reveals an Iranian flag and front mounted machine gun.  ”I can confirm there was some harassment,” a senior U.S. Defense official told AFP, confirming CNN, who first reported the incident.

The same report by CNN said that there was also a second, similar incident involving a US Coast Guard cutter off the Kuwaiti coast.

On the same day, U.S. Naval forces aboard the USS Kidd rescued 13 Iranian fisherman that had been held hostage by pirates in the Arabian Sea.

Iranian speed boats

The USS New Orleans

The distressed Iran-flagged dhow, Ya-Hussayn. Photo: U.S. Navy

For the second time in less than a week, a U.S. vessel has rescued distressed Iranian mariners while in regional waters, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today that several hours before dawn Tuesday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Monomoy rescued six Iranian mariners from a disabled cargo dhow, the Ya-Hussayn, in the North Arabian Gulf.

Monomoy is supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility that includes the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the coast off East Africa as far south as Kenya.

According to the statement, the Coast Guard cutter was hailed by flares and flashlights coming from the Ya-Hussayn at about 3 a.m. local time.   The dhow’s master indicated the engine room was flooding and the vessel was not seaworthy. A small boat was launched from the Monomoy and was able to rescue two people from the dhow and four from a life raft tied off the vessels stern, officials said.

Once aboard the Monomoy, the mariners were provided with food and water, and one was also treated for injuries.

“Without your help, we were dead,” said Ya-Hussayn’s Master, Hakim Hamid-Awi. “Thank you for all that you did for us.”

On January 5th, a team from the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd rescued a 13-member Iranian crew from 15 suspected pirates who had been holding the crew hostage on the Iranian-flagged Al Molai for several weeks.  Perhaps ironically, the USS Kidd is part of the USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, the vessel that Iran officials had warned to stay out of the Persian Gulf.

While Iran acknowledged the humanitarian effort by the U.S. in that incident, several Iranian news agencies accused the incident was blown up by the U.S. media as a form of propaganda.

Iran recently has been threating to block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz if global powers imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry.

After an 11 month, £20m refit, the HMS Argyll is currently sailing on six-month deployment in the middle east. Photo: Royal Navy

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Any attempt by Iran to disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz would be “illegal and unsuccessful”, U.K. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will say Thursday.

In advanced extracts of a speech he is due to give in Washington, Hammond will say disruption to the flow of oil through the strait would threaten regional and global economic growth and it was in all interests that the arteries of global trade are kept open.

“The [U.K.] Royal Navy will continue to play a substantial role as part of the Combined Maritime Forces, both at the Headquarters in Bahrain, and through our mine counter-measure vessels which help maintain freedom of navigation in the Gulf,” he will say, according to the extracts.

Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, has threatened to block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz if global powers impose sanctions on the country’s oil industry over its nuclear activities. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said last week that the strait carries about 20% of all oil traded worldwide.

Hammond is visiting Washington Thursday to hold his first meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and discuss Afghanistan, the Gulf and defense cooperation.

In his speech to be delivered at the Atlantic Council, Hammond will also say too many North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries were failing to meet their financial responsibilities in the group.

“Too many are opting out of operations or contributing but a fraction of what they should be capable of. This is a European problem, not an American one. And it is a political problem, not a military one,” he will say according to the extracts.

-By Nicholas Winning, Dow Jones Newswires

WHAT?!

First of all, any seaman, military or commercial, can tell you there is no heckler known as the “Filipino Monkey“. Rather it’s a phrase that’s been uttered anonymously by thousands of mariners for decades. This harassing radio call with racial origins is made over the radio when a sailor hears the distinct accent of a Filipino mariner on the VHF radio.

Why you may ask?

Mostly out of boredom but also for the simple reason that it is sure to get a heated response.

It also happens to be the bane of every Watch Officer’s existence; a joke that is no longer funny but refuses to die. Tim’s Times gave us the details behind this heckle back in September 2008:

The two tone alarm has gone again and this time it’s a pan pan from La Coruna Radio, other side of the Bay of Biscay. You wouldn’t mind so much if it was just the official users of VHF and MF radio that you had to contend with, but oh no there is every manner of animal sound, and jungle noise on the VHF from people who should not be on the radio, let alone a ship. One moron was calling out, “Gorilla from Manila, and Filipino monkey” my watchman who is from Manila laughed and said that it is often Indian’s who call this out to provoke a response from Filipinos, who say “Indian I can’t see you, but I can smell you”. So childish and these guys are in charge of ships, frightening, and these days it is all being recorded, so you must be dealing with stupidity, says a lot for the profession….

Boing Boing tells us;

Indeed, the voice in the audio sounds different from the one belonging to an Iranian officer shown speaking to the cruiser, USS Port Royal over a radio from a small open boat in the video released by Iranian authorities. He is shown in a radio exchange at one point asking the U.S. warship to change from the common bridge-to-bridge channel 16 to another channel, perhaps to speak to the Navy without being interrupted…

“For 25 years there’s been this mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats,” he said. “He could be tied up pierside somewhere or he could be on the bridge of a merchant ship.”

And the Monkey has stamina.

“He used to go all night long. The guy is crazy,” he said. “But who knows how many Filipino Monkeys there are? Could it have been a spurious transmission? Absolutely.”

Initially I was shocked that a Navy ship, or any ship, could not have known the taunt was a joke. This is seamanship 101. I clearly remember having the taunt whispered in my ear by an upperclassmen during my plebe year that the Naval Academy and by the time I received my officers license I had heard it hundreds of time. How could the officers of the cruiser Port Royal not know this was a common joke? I’m admitting still confused but after hearing the audio file I must say it doesn’t sound like the typical ‘Filipino Monkey’ taunt.

I’ll give the last comment to the cruise ship captain quoted by the Navy Times since it’s both accurate and contains good advice to mariners:

“It was just a gut feeling, something the merchants did. Guys would get bored, one guy hears it, comes back a year later and does it for himself,”

The former skipper noted that he warned his crew about hecklers when preparing to transit Hormuz. “I tell them they’ll hear things on there that will be insulting,” he said. “You tell your people that you’ll hear things that are strange, insulting, aggravating, but you need to maintain a professional posture.”

A civilian mariner with experience in that region said the Filipino Monkey phenomenon is worldwide, and has been going on for years.

“They come on and say ‘Filipino Monkey’ in a strange voice. They might say it two or three times. You’re standing watch on bridge and you’re monitoring Channel 16 and all of a sudden it comes over the radio. It can happen anytime. It’s been a joke out there for years.”

While it happens all over the world, it’s more likely to occur around the Strait of Hormuz because there is so much shipping traffic, he said.

You can watch the Iranian video at EagleSpeak.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) transiting the Straits of Hormuz on Nov. 12, 2011. Iran's threats over the past two days have been directed at the the aircraft carrier, which leads the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kenneth Abbate/Released)

TEHRAN — Iran’s defense minister Wednesday stressed his country’s warning against the U.S. navy presence in the Gulf, reinforcing a threat dismissed by Washington as a sign of “weakness” by Tehran.

“Iran will do anything to preserve the security of the Strait of Hormuz” at the entrance to the Gulf, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to the website of Iran’s state television.

“The presence of forces from beyond the [Gulf] region has no result but turbulence. We have said the presence of forces from beyond the region in the Persian Gulf is not needed and is harmful,” he was quoted as saying.

The comments echoed a warning issued Tuesday by Iran’s military that it would unleash its “full force” if a U.S. aircraft carrier is redeployed to the Gulf.

“We don’t have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once,” Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran’s armed forces chief, said as he told Washington to keep its aircraft carrier out of the Gulf.

The White House on Tuesday brushed off the warning, saying it “reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness’ as it struggles under international sanctions.

The U.S. Defense Department said it would not alter its deployment of warships to the Gulf.

Copyright © 2012, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

WASHINGTON — As global leaders weigh Iran’s threat to block oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. energy officials said Friday that more oil passed through the strategically located stretch of water in 2011 than in previous years and that any blockage of so-called chokepoints could lead to “substantial increases” in energy costs.

In data released Friday, the Energy Information Administration said an average of 17 million barrels of oil moved daily through the Strait this year, up from 15.5 million to 16 million barrels in 2009 and 2010. The Strait carried about 20% of all oil traded worldwide and about 35% of all seaborne-traded oil, EIA said.

Located between Oman and Iran, “Hormuz is the world’s most important oil chokepoint,” the EIA said on its web site.

The EIA released data on the Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, said Iran would block oil deliveries through the Strait if global powers imposed sanctions targeting his own country’s oil industry. Iran is the fourth largest oil producer in the world.

Oil currently trades at around $99 a barrel.

While experts say Iran is unlikely to actually close the Strait, in large part because such a move would damage its own economy, Iran is conducting a 10-day naval exercise in and around the waters of the Persian Gulf.

On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said “the ratcheting up of pressure” on Iran “is pinching in a way that is causing them to lash out,” according to transcripts.

If the Strait of Hormuz were to close, oil deliveries could be rerouted via pipelines “at increased transportation costs,” the EIA said. Specifically, oil could be shipped via a 745-mile pipeline that stretches across Saudi Arabia from Abqaiq to the Red Sea. Oil could also be pumped north via pipeline to a port on the Mediterranean Sea.

At its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide, wide enough and deep enough to handle the largest oil tankers. In 2011, an average of 14 oil tankers moved through the Strait every day, with a corresponding number of empty tankers entering the Strait to pick up new shipments, the EIA said.

The vast majority of shipments moving through the Strait are bound for Asian markets, with the most popular destinations being Japan, India, South Korea and China.

The EIA typically publishes annual data on the Strait of Hormuz a few weeks after the new year. Iran’s threat to close the Strait prompted so many requests for data that the agency published it early, EIA expert Erik Kreil said.

-By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires

The remarks could trigger new jitters in the oil market after crude futures rose sharply Tuesday over rumors–which were denied–that Iran had closed the world’s most vital oil-shipping channel.

According to the official Fars news agency, lawmaker Isa Ja’fari told parliament that: “If an oil embargo is placed on Iran, we will not allow a single barrel of oil to pass through here to the belligerent countries.”

The statements are in sharp contrast with a reassuring pledge by Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi last week that the country wouldn’t block the Strait and that he didn’t expect Europe to enforce a ban on its oil.

But lawmaker Ja’fari said Western nations “have not learned their lesson yet and they are once again thinking of imposing an oil embargo on Iran.

“This has even been approved in the American Senate,” he said.

He appeared to refer to legislation to sanction Iran’s Central Bank, which clears a large part of Iran oil sales. Such measure, which would be separate from a European oil ban considered in Europe, would make it difficult for international buyers to purchase Iranian oil. But the White House has yet to sign the measure into law, as it seeks to strike a balance between tackling Iran’s controversial nuclear and avoiding instability in oil markets.

The Iranian oil lawmaker said: “America should know that the world’s energy gullet, that is to say, the Strait of Hormuz, is in our hands.”

A rumor last week that Iran was preparing to shut the Strait was fueled by remarks by another Iranian lawmaker that it was preparing military exercise to shut the Strait. But the area is heavily patrolled by the U.S. Navy.

The lawmaker said Iran’s warning was supported by an article of the 1958 United Nations convention on territorial waters that states that “passage [of foreign ships] is innocent so long as it isn’t prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state.”

The Strait, which is located between Iran and Oman, handles about 33% of all ocean-borne trader oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

-By Benoit Faucon, Dow Jones Newswires

Information Dissemination brings us the news of the USS New Orleans and The USS Hartford colliding in the Straight of Hormuz:

A US Navy submarine and a US amphibious vessel collided in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday leaving 15 sailors slightly injured, the US Navy Fifth Fleet said.

“The collision between USS Hartford (SSN 768) and USS New Orleans (LPD 18) occurred at approximately 1:00 am local time (2030 GMT on Thursday),” the Bahrain-based navy command said.

“Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured and returned to duty. No personnel aboard New Orleans were injured,” it added.

Read More…

What we know so far:

• A ruptured fuel tank aboard the New Orleans, resulted in an oil spill of about 25,000 gallons
• 15 Sailors “slightly” injured
• Collision occurred Thursday at 1 a.m. LT
• USS Hartford previously ran aground in 2003
• Both ships, currently docked at a nearby port and are operating under their own power.
• Shipping lanes remain open
• Not the only submarine related story of the day.
• No official statement from Iran (yet) on the oil spill.

Video from the Pentagon can be found HERE.