What was the point of Irans ‘fake news’ IRGC ship raid? – The Jerusalem Post

Iran claimed this week that it would release momentous news about a great military operation. Irans state media said Wednesday that in the next few hours news would be released that would make regime supporters proud of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps power. Iran observers waited patiently. What could it be, they asked. Hacking of the US. A cyber attack on Israel? A new aerospace program, drones, missiles, satellites, nuclear technology.

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When the announcement came it claimed that the US had tried to pirate a tanker being used by Iran and that the oil on the tanker was transferred by the US. Iran, in a daring raid, sent a helicopter with elite IRGC troops to rope down onto the ship and grab the oil back, right in front of the Americans. Then Iran did its greatest feat of all, it took the tanker back while the US 5th Fleet, the greatest naval power in the world, was helpless. The US chased the tanker and failed, the Iranians claimed.

There was even video, oddly it seemed to be shot from the ship before it was boarded, and followed the Iranian raid, which was unopposed. The tanker was supposedly taken back to Iran on October 25. Not since Sir Francis Drake outwitted the Spanish Main had such an epic naval encounter been done, apparently. Perhaps.

The US rejected the Iranian claims. US Defense officials disputed the story to US media, such as CBS. They said that the incident last week involved two US Navy destroyers that were sent to monitor a Vietnamese flagged vessel which had been seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, but that there was no attempt to intervene or seize the cargo, CBS said. Pentagon Spokesman, John Kirby countered the IRGC claims of seizure of an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, saying allegations are "totally false and untrue."

Basically, the story is that the IRGC wanted to show off. It didnt have much to do, so it seems to have invented a story of great daring raids just to show video, that it had prepared to produce, like a propaganda film or staged incident. Meanwhile, Irans Fars News published an article about how US Naval personnel were stopped and detained in 2016. Iran also detained British sailors in 2007. This means that Iran is attempting to relive past incidents but apparently has not been able to lure the US into a similar scenario.

The overall lesson here is that Iran wants to create an incident. It is willing to use fast boats, helicopters and IRGC forces in a way that could lead to a real live-fire incident. It has harassed US ships in the past. Much of this is made for propaganda purposes, to create video that can be shown in Iran.

The IRGC is also trying to prove its worth to the regime. However, Irans leadership must know this story is either totally false or partially false and they will wonder what the IRGC is up to. The IRGC operates in a shadow world of lawlessness, conducting Irans foreign and military policy. However, even in the shadows it apparently needs to create fake news every once in a while to pretend it is doing something. It is also possible it is trying to lure the US into an incident, and this was just a test.

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What was the point of Irans 'fake news' IRGC ship raid? - The Jerusalem Post