A Brief History of the United States and Oil: Iran (part one).

By the way . . . the picture in the header is from the conflict described below.

Part One: The Backdrop to Operation Praying Mantis

Operation Praying Mantis.

That’s the name of the largest naval battle since World War II and the Battle of Midway. And 99% of our population doesn’t even know about. However, it is one of the larger reasons that tensions in the Middle East have escalated in recent years (*I believe there are two other “major” contributing factors.

The first being the US support of Israel which began on a large scale with the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and escalated with the Yom Kippur War.

The second being the tension between radical Islam and radical Christianity/Western materialism.

The former being the spark plug that ignited much of the Middle East’s hatred toward the “Christian” West. The latter being the fuel that feeds the fire.

Operation Praying Mantis, I believe, is the third major factor that has escalated things since the late 80’s (Something could be said as well for having an enemy that generates fear. With the inevitable collapse of Russia on the horizon . . . the U.S. would need another enemy to create “fear” for various reasons).

It’s April 18, 1988. The location is the Persian Gulf (only about twice the size of Lake Erie) where the Iran-Iraq war has been going on for 8 years. The war existed solely in the Gulf and consisted of each country attacking and destroying each other’s oil platforms.

The US was “officially” and “politically” neutral on the war. However, towards the end, the U.S. began to shift it’s support to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. They began providing Iraq and Saddam with weapons (which were later used against Kuwait, the US in the first Gulf War, and the “war” we are in now). They also began escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Gulf, oftentimes reflagging them and disguising them as American ships.

Four days earlier, a U.S. ship ran over an Iranian mine intended for Iraqi ships. Operation Praying Mantis would be retribution. The U.S. Navy would attack an Iranian oil tanker for the U.S. retribution.

However, the mines had been laid (as U.S. intelligence clearly showed) by the Republican Guard of Iran (Which is more or less a paramilitary group. On a sidenote the Iranian navy, as U.S. intelligence clearly showed, was going around the Gulf removing the mines). The U.S. intended to attack an unarmed civilian oil platform.

At 7:55 am, 3 U.S. ships surrounded a civilian Iranian oil platform. Over loud speakers they told the crew they had 5 minutes to get off. The crew asked for more time. The U.S. Navy gave them 30 minutes.

At 8:30 am the 3 U.S. ships began firing a thousand five-inch bullets. A single five-inch shell is approximately 3 feet long and weighs 80lbs. The platform quickly went up in flames and whoever was unable to get off by helicopter or boat in those 30 minutes had to jump into the Gulf.

At 9:00 am an Iranian warship came into view and fired a harpoon at the U.S. Wainwright. Ironically, the harpoon was a U.S. made harpoon that was sold to Iran in the early 80’s. The U.S. turned the ship to make it a smaller target and tossed some metallic confetti into the water to confuse the harpoon. They avoided the missile and then began firing on the Iranian ship. Within minutes, the Iranian warship was on fire and sinking.

Fights began breaking out all over the Persian Gulf (again only double the size of Lake Erie). The U.S. attacked another civilian oil platform (this time without warning). Iranian speedboats shot at a U.S. helicopter and attacked a U.S. supply boat. An Iranian frigate fired at three Navy jets, which in turn shot it with a laser guided bombs. Two Iranian F-4 Phantom jets (also purchased from the United States) attacked the Wainwright.

9 hours later . . . 2 oil platforms burned (wiping out 150,000 barrels of oil production a day), 6 Iranian ships sunk or damaged, 1 Iranian plane down, and at least 15 Iranians dead and 29 wounded. Half of Iran’s navy had been destroyed. While only two Americans lost their lives due to a helicopter accident.

Later I’ll discuss some of the fall-out from this 9 hour fight and how it became the turning point in public opinion towards the United States by the Arab community.

[tags]Oil+US, History of Oil, United States+Oil, Iran, US+Iran, United States+Iran, Iran+Oil, Oil, Persian Gulf, Iran+Iraq, Battle of Midway, Operation Praying Mantis, Yom Kippur War[/tags]