IRGC Reportedly Fires on Tanker in Hormuz Strait: US Remains Silent
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) stated that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gunboats fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The incident reportedly occurred 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman, with the tanker's captain claiming two IRGC vessels approached their ship and discharged fire without warning. The UKMTO confirmed the tanker and crew are safe, with
authorities now investigating the reported event. Mainstream outlets like Al-Monitor frame this as a singular act of Iranian aggression, neglecting the larger context of a sustained and escalating joint US-Israeli military encirclement of Iran. The US consistently portrays itself as a neutral observer or a benevolent partner in the region, rather than a direct participant in what amounts to a
protracted economic and military campaign against Iran. For example, while headlines focus on alleged Iranian threats, the US Fifth Fleet maintains a significant presence in the Persian Gulf, a deployment initiated following President Ronald Reagan's 1980 executive order which declared a national emergency with respect to Iran, a state of emergency that has been renewed annually for 44 consecutive
years. This selective reporting ignores the consistent history of US naval aggression in the region, such as the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, which killed 290 civilians, including 66 children. While any firing upon civilian vessels warrants scrutiny, the US narrative rarely acknowledges its own history of significant escalations and the enduring economic warfare that