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Japan mulls assigning 2 SDF vessels to new Middle East mission

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Spin.

My take, Rouhani told Abe, look at your tanker, we can get to any Japanese tanker, even in broad daylight, ewithven US drones constanstly watching. If you join in with USA, your tankers won't be safe. No negotiation.

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Gulf of Oman is not that potentially dangerous compared to Strait of Hormuz where Iranians controls much of the waters. I think the gov't should exert much of its efforts to protect the safety of our tankers in that region. Every damaged Japanese tankers equates to more higher prices in gasoline and the like. Our prices of fuel is one of the expensive in the world already. In addition to the prices of fuel, we pay ¥53.8 per liter in fuel tax. The prices of oil varies upon the market and is floating, while the amount of tax is fixed. In addition to that is the 10% consumption tax. The prices of regular gas at present is about ¥134/liter depending on the location you're buying it. Deduct from that the fuel tax and you will get the idea.

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My comment to the other forum related the this news:

Hundreds of Japanese owned ships are run and managed by foreign companies and they are registered thru ports of convenience, meaning countries asking for a cheap registration fee in return of using their flags In order to recognize to which country a ship is registered is as simple as taking a look at the stern of the ship. Just below the name of the ship, welded the name of country to which it is registered like Panama, Monrovia, Greece, etc. and during daytime, a flag is also hanging from the pole. Judging from this, the attackers have no way of knowing if the ship is of Japanese origin. Unlike the Japanese flagship which is known to be neutral, they are prone to Iranian attacks thus the reason why the Japanese government sends the SDF to the region. As the SD initial implies, it is in self defense of these ship and to escort them while in transit in Straight of Hormuz. Maybe some unrelated ship might find their solace in the convoy but protecting other ships is not the main objective here.

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This is good news. If more countries start taking responsibility like this, we can pull back the US military. You guys guard the Gulfs of Oman & Aden, we'll guard the Gulfs of Mexico & Alaska.

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@ Sceptical

Just like we know the intimate details of all ships, who owns them, how they are flagged AND the cargo they carry, etc. So do the Iranian. The only time when it becomes difficult is when the transponders are swiched on and off randomly.

There are operating databases that brokers, logistic companies use, a flag is close to useless for monitoring purposes and really are used only for registration.

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@Sh1mon M4sadaToday  12:52 pm JST

Transponders are never turned off during navigation especially on a narrow Gulf, The ship(s) were underway when they were attacked. I am sure the Iranians are well aware of the broker, cargo and its destinations since the tanker must have undocked from their own manifolds itself. The attackers are not necessarily Iranians themselves but Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. These are unsophisticated group who might not have sophisticated radar to tracks all the transponders and they just rely on visual enemy targets. To be clear, the first tanker attacked was MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker and the second vessel was identified as the Kokuka Courageous Panamanian flagged oil/ chemical tanker, carrying methanol and managed by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).

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Glad to hear they won't be joining my government or military in anything. My government and military cannot be trusted.

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@Sceptical

I think you mean "Flags of Convenience" aka FOCs.

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@OssanAmericaOct. 20  05:52 pm JST

Thanks for pointing that out.

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