#Hurmuz Island

[mediatimeplace]

Destruction of Hurmuz Island | تخریب جزیره هرمز

[political-affairs]

The Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz /hɔrˈmuːz/ Persian: تَنگِه هُرمُز‎ Tangeh-ye Hormoz, Arabic: مَضيق هُرمُز‎ Maḍīq Hurmuz) is a strait between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast is Iran, and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman. At its narrowest, the strait is 21 nautical miles (39 km) wide.[1]

About 20% of the world's petroleum, and about 35% of the petroleum traded by sea, passes through the strait making it a highly important strategic location for international trade.[1]

 To reduce the risk of collision, ships moving through the Strait follow a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS): inbound ships use one lane, outbound ships another, each lane being two miles wide. The lanes are separated by a two-mile-wide "median".

To traverse the Strait, ships pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman under the transit passage provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[4] Although not all countries have ratified the convention,[5] most countries, including the U.S.,[6] accept these customary navigation rules as codified in the Convention.

Oman has a radar site Link Quality Indicator (LQI) to monitor the TSS in the Strait of Hormuz. This site is on a small island on the peak of Musandam Peninsula.

  Traffic statistics

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in the year 2011 an average of 14 tankers per day passed out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait carrying 17 million barrels (2,700,000 m3) of crude oil. This was said to represent 35% of the world's seaborne oil shipments and 20% of oil traded worldwide. The report stated that more than 85% of these crude oil exports went to Asian markets, with Japan, India, South Korea and China the largest destinations.[1]

A 2007 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies also stated that 17 million barrels passed out of the Gulf daily, but that oil flows through the Strait accounted for roughly 40% of all world-traded oil[7]

  On the 18th of April 1988, the U.S. Navy waged a one-day battle against Iranian forces in and around the strait. The battle, dubbed Operation Praying Mantis by the U.S. side was launched in retaliation for the 14th of April mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) by Iran. U.S. forces sank one frigate, one gunboat, and as many as six armed speedboats in the engagement and seriously damaged a second frigate.

 The downing of Iran Air 655

Main article: Iran Air Flight 655

On the 3rd of July 1988, 290 people were killed when an Iran Air Airbus A300 passenger jet was shot down over the strait by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes in a case of mistaken identity.

  Collision between USS Newport News and tanker Mogamigawa

On the 8th of January 2007, the nuclear submarine USS Newport News, traveling submerged, struck M/V Mogamigawa, a 300,000-ton Japanese-flagged very large crude tanker, south of the strait.[8] There were no injuries, and no oil leaked from the tanker.

Ability of Iran to hinder shipping

Millennium Challenge 2002 was a major war game exercise conducted by the United States armed forces in 2002. According to a 2012 article in The Christian Science Monitor, it simulated an attempt by Iran to close the strait. The assumptions and results were controversial.[30]

A 2008 article in International Security contended that Iran could seal off or impede traffic in the Strait for a month, and an attempt by the U.S. to reopen it would be likely to escalate the conflict.[31] In a later issue, however, the journal published a response which questioned some key assumptions and suggested a much shorter timeline for re-opening.[32]

In December 2011 Iran's navy began a ten-day exercise in international waters along the strait. The Iranian Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, stated that the strait would not be closed during the exercise; Iranian forces could easily accomplish that but such a decision must be made at a political level.[33][34]

Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted in a December 2011 Reuters article: "Efforts to increase tension in that part of the world are unhelpful and counter-productive. For our part, we are comfortable that we have in the region sufficient capabilities to honor our commitments to our friends and partners, as well as the international community." In the same article, Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert at the Brookings Institution, said, "The expectation is that the U.S. military could address any Iranian threat relatively quickly."[35]

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in January 2012 that Iran “has invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz.” He also stated, “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”[36]

  Alternative shipping routes

In June 2012, Saudi Arabia reopened the Iraq Pipeline through Saudi Arabia (IPSA), which was confiscated from Iraq in 2001 and travels from Iraq across Saudi Arabia to a Red Sea port. It will have a capacity of 1.65 million barrels per day.[37]

In July 2012, the UAE began using a new pipeline from the Habshan fields in Abu Dhabi to the Fujairah oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman, effectively bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. It was constructed by China and will have a maximum capacity of around 2 million barrels per day, over three-fourths of the UAE's 2012 production rate. The UAE is also increasing Fujairah's storage and off-loading capacities.[37][38]

In a July 2012 Foreign Policy article, Gal Luft compared Iran and the Strait of Hormuz to the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles, a choke point for shipments of Russian grain a century ago. He indicated that tensions involving the Strait of Hormuz are leading those currently dependent on shipments from the Gulf to find alternative shipping capabilities. He stated that Saudi Arabia was considering building new pipelines to Oman and Yemen, and that Iraq might revive the disused Iraq-Syria pipeline to ship crude to the Mediterranean. Luft stated that reducing Hormuz traffic "presents the West with a new opportunity to augment its current Iran containment strategy."[37]

[currentbalochistan]

On 25 June 2018, officers of London Metropolitan Police along with Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection branch officers arrived at our sit-in protest and asked members of the Free Balochistan Movement to take down the flag of Balochistan. The officers alleged that the flag which we are displaying in the protest is a terrorist flag and it has been used by the BLA. They also said that Chinese Embassy called the police and made a complaint regarding the FBM protest and the flag. British police told FBM members that there is no national flag of Balochistan and it cannot be used by the Baloch activists.

The flag of Balochistan has been used by Baloch freedom activists since early 2000. Majority of Baloch activists in Balochistan and outside Balochistan still use it as their national flag and symbol of Free Balochistan struggle. Different political organisations in the world including Free Balochistan Movement have been displaying it to demand a free and a democratic homeland. Moreover, article 26 of the Balochistan Liberation Charter recognises the current flag as the symbol of #Balochistan's Independence.

The Baloch nation has decided that it is their flag and it is the right of the Baloch Nation to make their own decisions. Neither British government nor Chinese colonisers can dictate what should be a Baloch National flag and what shouldn’t.

China is a coloniser and a terrorist state, which is conducting ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs and Tibetan people. In Balochistan, terrorist army of Pakistan is financed and backed by the Chinese government to kill and torture Baloch people. China wants to occupy entire coastal belt of Balochistan, naval and military bases are being built in #Jiwani and Sonmiani area of Balochistan. The flag of #China in occupied Tibet and occupied Balochistan is illegal and therefore democratic countries should raise their voice against Chinese terrorism in occupied territories.

China is not just a threat to Balochistan but for the entire world. Chinese have built artificial islands in the South China Sea to control the Strait of Malacca and now they are intimidating neighbouring states. China now wants to take over the strategic #Gwadar district of Balochistan which is located near the Strait of Hurmuz. Balochistan’s independence movement is the only deterrence and real opposition to Chinese expansionism that’s why Chinese communist government is so afraid of Balochistan’s flag.

Despite the threats of British police to not use our national flag, the activists of Free Balochistan Movement and their supporters will defend their national symbol and wave it on 26 June 2018 during the protest in the front of the Chinese Embassy London.