Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "Iran says it's seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz" video.

@davidnoelfranks1124 wrong, the ship the UK seized was attempting to break sanctions on Syria.
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So the Iranians have fallen for a US/UK trap. The US will now be able to take whatever action it wants, with the full backing of the international community. It make the Iranians nothing more than pirates under international law. The EU will be force to withdraw support for the nuclear deal and comply with US sanctions, and all it cost was one oil tanker.
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Thimble you really do not get it. This has given the us what it wants. It will make it difficult for the EU to continue to support the nuclear deal. It will be forced to support US sanctions against Iran, as the cannot risk condoning the disruption of oil transport through the gulf. The UK indignation will whip up support for the US sanctions.
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@TheBashar327 I assume by totalitarian you are including the US. There are two problems, the people of the world have lived with the threat of nuclear war for so long, its horror no longer frightens them. The American people still think they can fight a nuclear war abroad and not be affected at home. Both of the above may be the result of the entertainment media that make light of war. An hour long TV drama always has a happy ending.
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@finscreenname I just did.
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@daleo1718 they were EU sanctions. How better to change the position of the EU towards Iran than show that the UK has paid a cost for implementing EU sanctions.
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@siyamfull172 no the EU is a fledgling, want to be, superstate. What it lacks in military power it is trying to make up for with financial power. It is the middle East that is still stuck with a twenth century idea that power is measured by military strength. After the second world war and the invention of nuclear weapons, it became increasingly obvious the financial power is more important than military power, as military power has become too destructive to exercise. Only super states with one foot in the past and one in the future still exercise both. There are still dinosaurs in government who suffer from twenteth century thinking.
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@kordvaramini5969 wrong, you are using the weapons of the last century, that the west have discarded in favour of more powerful means of persuasion. If this was not the case, Iran would be happy to exist in isolation, not bothered by trade sanctions. While the US does not see Iran protected by WMD it will believe that it can be subdued by its superior military force. In practice nuclear deterrents simply produce a military stalemate. 21st century conversion is by financial muscle. An Iran defended by nuclear weapons will still be vulnerable to control by sanctions and trade embargoes. What else can it do, threaten to blow up the world if no one will trade with it or lend it money.
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@speedy2488 the sanction were imposed on Syria by the EU not be US, so if anything the UK was acting under EU instructions.
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@shahrokhi.1357 only if the intention was to lose what little support it had in the EU for the nuclear deal. Remember from the Iranian point of view the nuclear deal was about normalisation of trade. Only the west was concerned about uranium enrichment. Nuclear weapons are only really of uses as a deterrent anything else is just global suicide.
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@JoaoSoares-rs6ec i know exactly what the EU is and what it wants the general population to think it is. The two are completely incompatible. I assume you are one of those who believe the EU propaganda. It goes something like "we are all sweetness and light representing the new age of reason and enlightenment". Nothing is further from the truth.
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@zawturrr1267 the money spent on defence is just a means to an end. It moves tax payer money into the pockets of the military weapons manufactures.
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@leodarksam6230 the EU may well have given this considerable thought. They are caught between honouring the nuclear deal and having EU companies allowed to operate in the US. This gives them a nice reason to drop support for the nuclear deal and support the American position. It is interesting that the ship involved is using UK registration as a flag of convenience and is intact operated by another EU member state. It does not even have a UK crew. All the above makes this look like a trap for the Iranians. Today they are signs that Iran has realised their mistake and are looking for ways to save face. The latest news reports that Iran is now claiming that the tanker was involved in a collision with an Iranian fishing trawler and that is why it was detained. The other ship seized has already been released. If the tanker is quickly released, it will suggest that the trap has been recognised by iran and defused. The UK government is saying what is expected for the trap to work. It is seeking diplomatic action to put pressure on Iran. In other words inviting the EU to get behind US sanctions. A few weeks ago it was reported that Iran was attaching mines to tankers in the gulf. Iran denied this action. Someone is not telling the truth. In the west, most will assume it is Iran.
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@JoaoSoares-rs6ec by definition you did. The fact that you speak about the EU in generalities suggest that it is you who do not know what the EU is about.
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@finscreenname I did not need too. The Iranians made it clear for the past two weeks that this was the action they intended to take, it would not have been difficult for the UK to have avoided it, but that would not have achieved the goal of changing the EU position.
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@bladerunner9045 correct, suckers.
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@silversoul9314 the UK would need a navy to match that of the US and Russia to have any impact on this situation. While it would be nice if the UK still had a large navy, in this day and age it is irrelevant, the days of gun boat deplomacy by any navy is over. The weapons are too powerful now, but this is not about gun boats, it is about trickery and trade. In this respect, the Iranians have been out maneuvered by the British.
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News reports indicate the crews are not British and the ships are simply registered under a UK flag.
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