The mullahs know the Biden regime is weak and so treasonous and appeasement-minded that it just sent them $10 billion. So they know that the U.S. will do nothing.
“‘Unauthorized’ men in military garb take over contentious oil tanker in Gulf of Oman — one day after Houthi rebels strike in full-scale drone, missile attack,” Associated Press, January 11, 2024:
Iran’s navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that once was at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalates tensions in the Mideast waterways.
The vessel was once known as the Suez Rajan and was involved in a yearlong dispute that ultimately saw the U.S. Justice Department seize 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it.
The seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, including their largest barrage ever of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday.
That has raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes by U.S.-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway, especially after a United Nations Security Council vote on Wednesday condemning the Houthis and as American and British officials warned of potential consequences over the attacks.
Iran’s state-run television acknowledged the seizure late Thursday afternoon, hours after armed men boarded it.
The oil tanker was boarded in the Gulf of Oman by “unauthorized” people in military uniforms early on Thursday morning.
“The violating oil tanker Suez Rajan … stole Iranian oil by leading it to the Americans and delivered it to the Americans,” state TV said.
It said Iran’s navy, rather than its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, conducted the seizure….