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Tag: Persian Gulf

  • Iran Warships: Serious Threat Or More Posturing?

    Iranian officials announced recently that the country was sending ships in the direction of US maritime waters. The move is said to be in response to the United State’s own increased presence in the Persian Gulf.

    The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Adm. Afshin Rezayee Haddad on Saturday as saying that, “Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message”.

    It has not yet been confirmed, but Rezayee claims these ships are headed into the Atlantic Ocean, “via the waters near South Africa”.

    A US official told CNN that this is not the first time Iran has made such threats. It was noted that in 2011, Iran had stated they had plans for sending ships into American-controlled waters. The statement was released to local press during the thirtieth anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war.

    Back then, Iran had claimed there were “plans for the presence of this force in the Atlantic Ocean…same way that the world arrogant power is present near our marine borders” were underway.

    Said the anonymous official, “t’s important to understand that, at this point, we have an announcement not a deployment.”

    In other words the threats have been made once again, however there doesn’t seem to be any material proof to cause any sort of true concern. An “aspiration” to possess a strong naval presence is not the same as actually having one.

    It seems that for now Iran’s boast is being treated as posturing and little more. Is Iran “crying wolf” or are there really warships headed our way?

    The anonymous defense official that spoke with CNN, seems to think Iran doesn’t quite understand how maritime operations work.

    He says, “Freedom of the seas doesn’t just apply to fish. It applies to all maritime nations, all navies, everywhere…if they chose to send their ships to the Atlantic, I’m sure they won’t be surprised to find many, many others already there.”

    Iran’s navy is relatively small when compared with the rest of its military, and with the majority of its forces being a world away, it’s not likely help would immediately arrive should Iran engage in any truly aggressive activities in the Atlantic.

    Image via US Military Videos and Photos

  • Google Earth Images Reveal Possible Overfishing

    Researchers this week revealed that they may have found overfishing using images from Google Earth.

    The study, published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, shows that some fishing weirs located in the Persian Gulf are much larger than they are supposed to be. Fishing wiers are large traps that use tides to catch fish not far from shore.

    “This ancient fishing technique has been around for thousands of years,” said Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, lead author of the study and a PhD student at the University of British Columbia. “But we haven’t been able to truly grasp their impact on our marine resources until now, with the help of modern technology.”

    These traps, according to the study, could be catching up to six times the amount of fish that their host countries have reported officially to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Researchers looked at 1,900 Persian Gulf fishing weirs using data from Google Earth and estimate that around 31,000 tonnes of fish were caught by the traps during 2005. This is far more than the 5,360 tonnes reported to the UN for that year by the seven countries the weirs are located in.

    “Time and again we’ve seen that global fisheries catch data don’t add up,” said Daniel Pauly, a co-author of the study. “Because countries don’t provide reliable information on their fisheries’ catches, we need to expand our thinking and look at other sources of information and new technologies to tell us about what’s happening in our oceans.”

  • Facebook Adding Office in Dubai

    Facebook Adding Office in Dubai

    Facebook, which is currently being sued over an allegedly botched IPO, is set to open an office in the global city of Dubai next week, right near the nameless body of water featured on Google Maps, which Iran points out as being called the Persian Gulf. The Dubai office will be the first location where the social network has set up shop in the Middle East region, and will open on May 30th.

    More details on the office will be conveyed during a press event on the 30th, which will add to Facebook’s roughly 30 global hubs. Facebook, along with other social media platforms, was an integral tool for coordinating the pro-democracy Arab Spring protests taking place in the region last year – and the social network also inadvertently landed two Tunisians in prison after they’d insulted the prophet Muhammad on their Timelines.

    Dubai City has evolved into a global business hub, after getting its start via oil revenues. Primary revenues presently come from tourism, real estate, and financial services. The city of over 1.7 million features, the world’s tallest building, the world’s largest mall, man-made islands and an indoor ski resort in the middle of a desert climate.

    Here’s a look at the artificial islands of Dubai:

  • Iran Might Sue Over Google Map

    Iran, the world’s worst oppressor of internet freedom, has ironically been complaining about Google’s omission of the Persian Gulf name in its map of the region, and is now reportedly considering a lawsuit.

    For a bit of backstory, Iran accused Google of lacking credibility after noticing that the word ‘Persian Gulf’ was omitted from its map of the area. Below is a similar map from 1994, which would likely pass quality control in Iran:

    persian gulf

    Bahman Dorri, a deputy in Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, had said, “Google is fabricating lies – will not have any outcome but for its users to lose trust in the data the company provides.” Other Arab countries in the region typically refer to the body of water as the “Arabian Gulf” or simply “the Gulf.” But Iran likes to say “Persian Gulf.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast states, “Toying with modern technologies in political issues is among the new measures by the enemies against Iran, (and) in this regard, Google has been treated (us) as a plaything,” adding, “omitting the name Persian Gulf is (like) playing with the feelings and realities of the Iranian nation.”

    A spokesperson for Google explained to CNN, “It’s just simply the case that we don’t have a label for every body of water.” The Google map above shows that the Arabian Sea is also missing, as well as the Gulf of Oman.

    I assume Mehmanparast meant to convey that Google had “treated Iran like a plaything,” though perhaps the country is being a bit pedantic in its Google map searching habits.

  • Iran Angry Over Google Map

    Iran Angry Over Google Map

    Iran, the world’s worst oppressor of internet freedom, has ironically been complaining about Google’s omission of the Persian Gulf name in its map of the region.

    Iran accused Google of lacking credibility on Saturday after noticing that the word ‘Persian Gulf’ was omitted from its map of the area. Below is a similar map from 1994, which would likely get an O.K. in Iran:

    persian gulf

    Bahman Dorri, a deputy in Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, asserts, “Google is fabricating lies – will not have any outcome but for its users to lose trust in the data the company provides.” Other Arab countries in the region typically refer to the body of water as the “Arabian Gulf” or simply “the Gulf.” But Iran likes to say “Persian Gulf,” and Dorri adds, “The enemies cannot hide facts and evidence about the Persian Gulf. Documents in the UN and the UNESCO show the name of this body of water has always been ‘Persian Gulf’ since a long time ago.”

    Iran points out that as long as other countries, including the U.S., refuse to call the gulf the “Persian Gulf,” the name will basically become more legendary. Iran also doesn’t pilots who mention the words “Arabian Gulf” on in-flight monitors to fly in its airspace.

    In related news, I too am sick of Google lying to me.