The Iman, a Russian tanker ship that visited the Syrian port of Tartus, has caused quite a stir in the Western and Arab press, which is portraying it as a warship with a unit of Marines on board. So, let us try to work out what is actually going on with the Iman.
In form and in fact
There are those among the Western and Arab media who have gladly seized upon the news that Russian combatant ships, reportedly carrying either “antiterrorist units” or Marines, have been sighted off the Syrian coast. They would lead us to believe that Russia has sent in troops with a mission to assist the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Russian officials have refuted these allegations. “There are no Russian combatant ships performing missions near the Syrian coast,” a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti. “The Iman, a tanker ship forming part of the auxiliaries and service craft, has anchored for ten days at the Syrian port of Tartus in order to provide logistical support by replenishing fuel and food stocks to the Black Sea Fleet and North Sea Fleet ships which are assuring safety for shipping in the Gulf of Aden in connection with the threat of piracy.”
The Iman, incidentally, has distinguished itself in the context of the murky, almost Le Carresque Arctic Sea kidnapping story, helping a Russian escort ship, the Ladny, to recapture the fugitive vessel.
Our current story has no detective overtones, although in latching onto this news the U.S. and Gulf media did not even have to seriously break the rules of professional reporting.
First, the Iman is not a civilian ship – it is a component of the Black Sea Fleet’s support forces. Second, if the ship is headed to Tartus from the Gulf of Aden, the zone of an international anti-piracy operation, it is certain to have a unit of Marines on board to protect the crew.
This, also, has not been denied by the MoD spokesman quoted above. “There is no one on board the tanker but a civilian crew that has been given a security guard detail,” he told RIA Novosti. Technically, the Marines may well fall into that category. Besides, Tartus is the Russian Navy’s forward base in the Mediterranean, and therefore there is nothing unusual about the Iman stopping at that port.
But the media bombshell was dropped competently, there’s no denying it. The only interesting thing in this regard is the unity of the U.S. and Arab media. We will see quite soon whether that betrays a sense of community in military-political interests of Washington and the Gulf monarchies in the Syrian game. To a certain extent, this is already an open secret, particularly if we recall how Qatar and the UAE behaved during the Libyan campaign.
Meanwhile…
Tensions in the Middle East remain high. This quote seems like it could be a carbon copy from the Soviet press of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and the Russian press of the 1990s and 2000s. The world is approaching another juncture, where policy will again be pursued by “other, namely, violent means.”
The powerful U.S. naval task force in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East has been strengthened with a mine-sweeping force and high-speed anti-boat craft.
This immediately indicates that the would-be adversary is Iran, whose Navy has both a powerful mine warfare potential and numerous small craft drilled to intercept heavy oil tankers in the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
But the ambivalence of the U.S. naval deployment off the Arabian Peninsula does not make it possible to indicate its future target with certainty. Syria is likely to be a target as well, considering the current international situation.
The Russian – and Chinese – unyielding stance on Syria is causing opposition among the West and the Gulf monarchies. In this sense, the Iman story is highly symbolic, showing that Moscow does not intend to withdraw from the region, while its opponents are doing whatever they can to isolate Russia and portray it as an interventionist force with a mind to support the Assad regime. There is nothing new in this: the Syrian chess game goes on and on.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and may not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
