Trump’s Pressure on Iran Ended its Harassment of Our Ships

By Jim Campbell

January 29, 2918

Of course it would be President Donald Trump.

The Iranians knew with the Muslim and Muslim ass kisser Obama in office they had nothing to fear.

 

The American Thinker

By Rick Moran

January 29, 2017

Why have Iranian naval craft stopped harassing US Navy ships?

For the last few years, Iranian patrol boats manned by Revolutionary Guard sailors have been harassing US naval vessels in the Persian Gulf.

 

Iranian fastboat harassing U.S. Warships

The boats would rush toward US ships, sometimes barely avoiding collisions. It’s as if the Iranians were daring the US Navy to defend themselves.

But since August, the routine harassment of US ships from Iranian boats has ceased. And the Navy can’t figure out why.

 

Remember this video with Ambassador John Bolton was made when Obama’s Cabal was in charge.

 

Fox News:

The Iranian military has halted the routine harassment by its armed “fast boats” of U.S. naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military said, a turnabout that officials welcomed but were at a loss to explain.

The boats for at least two years would dart toward the U.S. vessels as they passed through the Persian Gulf, risking miscalculation, but haven’t done so for five months, U.S. military officials said.

The officials said they hoped the respite would continue. “I hope it’s because we have messaged our readiness…and that it isn’t tolerable or how professional militaries operate,” Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command, told reportersIranian officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The fast boats, typically armed with .50 caliber machine guns and rocket launchers, have come within shooting distance of American naval vessels, encounters that grew routine even though each one presents potential dangers to American vessels transiting through international waters.

In some of the more serious incidents, Iranian crews have directed spotlights at ship and aircraft crews, potentially blinding pilots as they conduct operations, according to U.S. military officials.

In one case, an Iranian boat pointed a weapon at an American helicopter flying off a Navy vessel, officials said. In the most serious incidents, U.S. vessels have fired warning shots in return. (Source)

Iran would never admit to being intimidated, but with Donald Trump in office, a high degree of uncertainty has entered Iranian calculations about how far they can tease and harass the American fleet in the Persian Gulf without a devastating response.

It was easy for them when Obama was president.

They knew they had nothing to fear – especially after kidnapping and holding our sailors for ransom.

If the US didn’t respond after that extreme provocation, the Iranians probably figured they could anything short of firing a missile at our ships.

I don’t know if US ships have recieved revised rules of engagement, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Another possibility for the end of Iranian naval harassment is that the Iranians don’t want to give Trump an excuse to end the nuclear deal.

It would be crazy for them to do something that would end such a one sided, advantageous agreement. 

Whatever the reason, provocations from the Revolutionary Guards have ceased for the time being.

 

FrontPage Magazine

Hanuary 29, 2018

Daniel Greenfield

 

Is  this what actual “smart diplomacy” looks like?

The U.S. claims it doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, perhaps he never received the memo?

Under Obama, Iran knew that it could do anything short of nuking Chicago and get away with it. 

Once Obama made the Iran deal the centerpiece of his foreign policy legacy, any attack on it was an attack on him.

Anything that might make Iran “walk away from the table” was taboo.

So Hezbollah got a blank check to smuggle drugs.

Members of Congress were spied on to protect the Iran deal.

(Even well before Trump, Obama was using the NSA as a tool against his political opponents.)

American personnel could be captured, taken hostage, humiliated in front of the world, and Obama’s little minions, like Ben Rhodes, would scurry to their media lapdogs spin the story.

 

See the entire article below.

 

And Iran and Russia could show off by harassing American forces in the water and the air who had to take it. Not anymore.

The Iranian military has halted the routine harassment by its armed “fast boats” of U.S. naval vessels in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military said, a turnabout that officials welcomed but were at a loss to explain.

The boats for at least two years would dart toward the U.S. vessels as they passed through the Persian Gulf, risking miscalculation, but haven’t done so for five months, U.S. military officials said.

What happened 5 months ago?

In September, President Trump began applying pressure to Iran. There was the UN speech in which he declared, among other things, that, “Iran’s government must stop supporting terrorists, begin serving its own people, and respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors.” 

And he began threatening to pull out of Obama’s bad Iran deal that let the Islamic state continue its nuclear program.

The lesson here is that  pressure works.

Iran didn’t fundamentally shift. But antics like harassing Navy vessels came from a sense of misplaced confidence.

Our enemies don’t have that confidence under Trump.

Iran isn’t sure what would happen if a confrontation ensued. It’s no longer sure what the limits of our forces are.

So it’s backing off.

And, I suspect, Russia is doing fewer of those intercepts because despite the Dem howls about collusion, the Russians are much less confident that they can push this administration around.

About Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

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