M. Star: genie is out of the bottle?

Spencer Ackerman as attackerman at firedoglake

The attack on the M Star was poorly executed, without powerful or sophisticated enough explosive to breech the hull or even sink the ship. But I wonder if now this genie is out of the bottle. With better funding and an experienced bomb-maker, as they used against the USS Cole in 2000 and the Limburg in 2002, the outcome might have been much more serious – a massive spill, or even a sunken supertanker in the Strait. Shipping is a very soft target, impossible to defend, and the western economy is very sensitive to increases in the price of crude oil. The Persian Gulf, especially the Strait of Hormuz is a natural choke point, through which something on the order of a quarter of the world’s crude oil is shipped. If last week’s attack had caused a major spill or actually sunk the M Star, the price of oil would have to go up as shipping out of the Gulf would be slowed, reduced and insurance costs would skyrocket. An extended campaign that could have the effect of driving up the cost of oil at a time when the US and Europe are struggling with fragile, damaged economies would be disastrous, even if operationally it met with little success.

M. Star: Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman redux

"UAE explosives experts who collected and examined samples found a dent on the starboard side above the water line and remains of home-made explosives on the hull,
Probably the tanker had encountered a terrorist attack from a boat loaded with explosives,"
Abdullah Azzam Brigades is a name of convenience rather than an actual organisation. Their stated aim is the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a controversial blind Muslim cleric, from a US jail for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

M. Star: Ayyub Al Tayshan?

Privately, U.S. officials have expressed skepticism about the al Qaeda-affiliated group's claim of responsibility. They say that while the investigation isn't finished, the visible damage to the tanker hull is more consistent with a collision than a terrorist attack.
a Dolphin class submarine have passed through Suez. here A report in the London Sunday Times 30 May said that Israel was placing submarines off the coast of Iran. According to the report, three submarines have already arrived in the Persian Gulf, and one will be permanently stationed there. The deployment is Israel's response to Iran's development of ballistic missiles, the report said.
"After midnight last Wednesday, the martyr hero Ayyub Al Tayshan blew himself up in the Japanese oil tanker M. Star in the Strait of Hormuz between the U.A.E. and Oman,"In a statement posted on a militant website and dated Aug. 2, by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.