The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that two "violating" oil tankers were struck and forced to stop in the Strait of Hormuz after attempting to pass through an unauthorized route under US military escort.
In a statement on Friday, the IRGC added that four other tankers quickly reversed course. It explained that the two tankers ignored repeated warnings and attempted to transit through an "unsafe and illegal route."
"In the early hours of today, two violating oil tankers, believing they could pass through our undeclared route under the aerial escort of the child-killing US army, ignored our warnings and proceeded along an unsafe and illegal route. They were struck and brought to a halt," the statement said.
"Four other violating oil tankers immediately changed course and returned to their previous location," it added.
Referring to a statement issued by the terrorist CENTCOM) claiming that vessels continued to transit the strait with the support of US military forces, the IRGC said it had warned shipping companies and insurers the previous night not to rely on "false" US claims.
"The IRGC Navy once again warns that the illegal interference and orders issued by the child-killing US army to vessels in the region will not go unanswered," the statement added.
The latest incident comes a day after the IRGC declared that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed as long as US threats and interference in the region continue.
Also in a statement issued on Thursday, the IRGC said two oil tankers had attempted to use an "unsafe southern route" after being directed by US military aircraft.
According to the statement, one of the tankers caught fire, forcing both vessels to reverse course.
"The Strait of Hormuz is our territory, and the brave men of the IRGC Navy firmly control it. No outsider who has come from thousands of kilometers away will be allowed to interfere," the IRGC said.
It also warned that countries assisting the United States would face consequences if they continued supporting its aggression.
Washington has violated the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which recognizes Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and grants it responsibility for regulating maritime traffic through the strategic waterway.
The US has attempted to undermine that arrangement by creating an unauthorized maritime corridor near Omani waters, prompting Tehran to reimpose restrictions on vessels linked to aggressor states.
Iran says all navigation through the Strait must be conducted under Iranian arrangements.
Here's the history of this comm.
~14 years ago - There's a subreddit called "r/shitliberalssay". It's a communist subreddit to criticize things that liberals say on social media. It still exists today and it mostly has social media screenshots.
~10 years ago - Chapo Trap House podcast was formed
~6 years ago - r/chapotraphouse was banned and hexbear was formed. A user asked for a comm called "ShitReactionariesSay" and the mod created a comm called the_dunk_tank. I think this means the comm was intended to replicated the functionality of r/shitliberalssays. I believe the word dunk was chosen because many hexbears came from twitter where dunk mean to humiliate, in reference to basketball dunking
~2 years ago - There was an argument about whether screenshots of lemmy users from other instances were allowed to be posted in the_dunk_tank. It was called "Rule 8", you'll notice that slop only has 7 rules. Then "the_dredge_tank" was created to allow users to continue mocking screenshots of other lemmy instances.
<2 years ago - The Dunk Tank and The Dredge Tank were closed because the concept of the a "dunk tank" originates from racist Jim Crow era. Though I think many people interpreted the name as the basketball term "dunk". In place of these comms, two new comms formed: "gossip" and "slop".
9 months ago - The gossip comm is shut down and considered to be merged into the slop comm.
With that history in mind, I think this comm should resemble the content of /r/shitliberalssay, that is criticizing screenshots of people saying anti-communist things on social media. I don't that subreddit even allows posts that aren't images.
Most people don't post into the slop comm thinking it's a containment. They think "I dislike this thing and I want to humiliate it by labeling it slop".
It does not feel like "slop" is a containment comm when it's the 3rd largest comm and growing. It feels like slop is trying to steal the character of chapotraphouse.
The characteristics of Chapo Trap House is a combination of comedy, pop culture, US politics, and US foreign policy. Chapo also had a weekly segment where they would read liberal newspaper opeds and criticize the liberalism.
Marx and Lenin have a considerable amount of writing where they criticize their liberal opponents. When Lenin criticized Kautsky or Bernstein, was it considered slop? No, of course not. In a certain sense, the purpose of left theory is to criticize contradictions and ultimately resolve the contradictions.
I do not mean that more content on hexbear is becoming "slop". I mean that posts which could better fit into other comms are being placed into slop.
We live in a world of contradictions, there are many opposing forces in conflict. The contradictions make people feel uncomfortable and people label those contradictions as slop, but not every contradiction needs to discussed in a containment space.
I agree with your principle of having this comm being a "containment". Then we have to ask, what is being contained? Is the purpose of the slop comm to contain every contradiction? Certainly not, because most of the real world is made up of contradictions.
I would propose that what is contained in a containment comm is the most fringe and socially unacceptable subjects. Things that one would be ashamed to say in public. For example, unhinged social media comments.
The purpose of a containment is to shrink, not grow, and yet slop continues to grow.
Norm Finkelstein is one of the most influential academics of our time. I DO think that Norm should be criticized for his problematic takes. However, I don't think Finkelstein is considered to be slop. I would not be ashamed to speak about Norm Finkelstein in a public space.
What I am saying is that the parameters of slop is too broad.