Unfortunately This Is Going To Require A Response

Fox News is reporting today that two tankers flying British flags have been seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

The article reports:

Fox News has learned that a second Liberian tanker operated by a British company was also seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was seen on maritime tracking services making a turn, headed towards Iran.

President Trump said Friday that Iran is “nothing but trouble” and that “we heard one, we heard two,” tankers were seized.

Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz earlier Friday amid growing tensions in the region.

The Stena Impero, which has a crew of 23 onboard, “was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters,” Stena Bulk, the shipping company that owns the vessel, said in a statement. “We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces, in a statement on their website, say the ship was seized for “non-compliance with international maritime laws and regulations” and is being brought to an unnamed Iranian port, according to the Associated Press.

Websites tracking the ship’s path show it turning sharply in the direction of Iran’s Qeshm Island, instead of its intended destination of Saudi Arabia.

“We are urgently seeking further information and assessing the situation following reports of an incident in the Gulf,” a U.K. government spokesperson told Fox News.

In July 2018 Reuters posted the following:

With a third of the world’s sea-borne oil passing through it every day, the Strait of Hormuz is a strategic artery linking Middle East crude producers to key markets in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and beyond.

That dynamic has changed slightly due to the fact that America now exports more crude oil than they import. The countries that will be hurt by problems in the Strait of Hormuz will be Europe, India, and China. I am sure that America will be willing to help Europe, Russia will also increase her oil production. The price of oil will rise sharply, but it is doubtful that the Strait will remain closed.

The latest report that I have heard is that there are actually three tankers that have been seized. This is an international problem and should be handled by the international community in unison.

The Report From Those Who Are Actually Handling The Crisis

Yesterday the U.K. Telegraph posted a story about American nurses saying that they are unprepared to deal with an outbreak of the Ebola virus in America.

The article reports:

The warning comes after it emerged Thomas Eric Duncan, the country’s first case, had told health workers he had recently been in Liberia yet was still sent home from a hospital in Texas with nothing more than painkillers and antibiotics.

However, health officials insist that American hospitals are ready for such patients and on Friday White House advisers tried to reassure the nation that an outbreak was extremely unlikely.

Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, said: “The United States is prepared to deal with this crisis, both at home and in the region.

“Every Ebola outbreak in the past 40 years has been stopped. We know how to do this and we will do it again.”

That may be true, but there was another story out of Dallas today that was not very reassuring. CBS News in Dallas reported today Dallas officials had located a homeless man who may have had contact with Eric Duncan before he was hospitalized. Mr. Duncan was released from the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital when he first went there with the symptoms of Ebola. He told the Hospital that he had recently arrived from West Africa, but somehow that information was not relayed, and he was released. Now Dallas health authorities have to figure out who he had contact with before he was finally admitted, and they have to monitor those people for symptoms. Releasing Mr. Duncan was a rather serious mistake that may have severe consequences.

The U.K Telegraph reported:

A survey by the National Nurses United union across 31 states found 80 per cent of respondents said their hospital had no Ebola admissions policy and 30 per cent said they lacked proper protective equipment.

This is not the time to panic, but it is the time to be aware of the people around you and make sure to practice common sense health habits like washing your hands frequently. In a month or so, we will know where we stand with Ebola. Until then, we just need to be careful.