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<ul class="summary-list"><li>In April 1988, the US attacked <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> in the <keyword id="386457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Persian-Gulf">Persian Gulf</keyword> in retaliation for the mining of a US ship.</li><li><keyword id="11146575" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-praying-mantis">Operation Praying Mantis</keyword>, the largest US naval action since World War II, was brief but deadly.</li><li>Thirty-three years later, the weapons each side would use have only gotten more destructive.</li></ul><p>Just before 8:00 a.m. on April 18, 1988, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) stationed on the Sassan and Sirri oil platforms in the Persian Gulf received a warning from US Navy ships several thousand yards away.</p><p>"You have five minutes to abandon the platform. I intend to destroy it at 0800," the warning said.</p><p>Some Iranians boarded ships and fled, but others began manning gun emplacements. Shortly after 8:00 a.m., the platforms were hit with barrages of gunfire from US destroyers, frigates, and a guided-missile cruiser.</p><p>They were the opening shots of <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1989/may/surface-view-operation-praying-mantis" target="_top">Operation Praying Mantis</a>, retaliation for Iran's mining of the Persian Gulf, which had damaged the guided-missile frigate <keyword id="11146574" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uss-samuel-b-roberts">USS Samuel B. Roberts</keyword> days earlier.</p><p>It would be the US's largest naval action since World War II and the first time warships engaged one another with anti-ship missiles.</p><h2>A tense Gulf</h2><div type="image" title="Navy helicopter tanker war" height="1333" width="2000" msid="82216301" hostid="261"></div><p>Tensions were extremely high in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. Iran had been fighting a brutal war with Iraq since September 1980, and although Iran reclaimed territory lost early in the war, by 1983 it was a stalemate.</p><p>In 1984, Iraq began attacking Iranian oil tankers and facilities in an attempt to damage Iran's economy. Iran responded in kind, and eventually foreign vessels became targets in what is known as the <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-018/h-018-1.html" target="_top">Tanker War</a>.</p><p>Iran was particularly aggressive, as Iraq was receiving financial and material support from other Gulf States, namely Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.</p><p>The IRGCN's swarms of Boghammers and other small, armed fast-attack boats, along with sea mines and attacks from Iranian Navy frigates, were taking their toll. (By the end of the war, Iran had <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/3423" target="_top">attacked</a> some 190 ships from 31 countries, killing at least 63 sailors.)</p><p>At the request of Kuwait, the US Navy began escorting tankers, reflagged as American ships, through the Gulf. Unwilling to attack the US Navy directly, the IRGCN increased its mine-laying.</p><p>The US Navy tried to stop these efforts with a number of actions.</p><p>On September 21, 1987, the Navy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/23/world/26-iranians-seized-with-mine-vessel-more-us-shooting.html" target="_top">forcibly seized</a> the Iranian minelayer Iran Ajr while it was on a mission, killing five and capturing 26 sailors and 10 mines. In two engagements the following month, the Navy <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-09-mn-8588-story.html" target="_top">sank three</a> IRGCN boats and <a href="https://www.navybook.com/no-higher-honor/timeline/operation-nimble-archer/" target="_top">destroyed</a> two oil platforms used as IRGCN bases.</p><h2>A military response</h2><div type="image" title="Navy Samuel B. Roberts Iran mine Persian Gulf" height="1301" width="2000" msid="82216308" hostid="261"></div><p>But the Iranians continued laying mines, and on April 14, 1988, the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck one. Ten sailors were injured, four with serious burns. The blast left a 15-foot hole in the hull and broke the keel of the warship.</p><p>Serial numbers from nearby unexploded mines matched those on mines captured aboard Iran Ajr. With this evidence, President Ronald Reagan ordered a military response, which was carried out by three Navy Surface Action Groups (SAGs) named Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.</p><p>Bravo, with two destroyers and an amphibious transport dock and four Sea Cobra and two UH-1 Iroquois attack helicopters, would attack the Sassan platform.</p><p>Charlie, with two frigates and a guided-missile cruiser, would attack the Sirri platform.</p><p>Delta, with a frigate and two destroyers, was tasked with sinking the Iranian frigate Sabalan - which was known for particularly aggressive attacks - or any other Iranian frigate it could find.</p><p>SAG Bravo and SAG Charlie would land a team of Marines and Navy SEALs on Sassan and Sirri, respectively, who would clear the platforms and collect anything of value before destroying them.</p><p>The ships of SAG Delta would operate in the Strait of Hormuz, waiting for Iranian frigates to leave Bandar Abbas naval base. They were supported by <a href="https://www.navyhistory.org/2017/04/operation-praying-mantis-an-enterprise-combat-mission/" target="_top">aircraft from the carrier USS Enterprise</a>, which was sailing in the Gulf of Oman.</p><h2>Operation Praying Mantis</h2><div type="image" title="Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1547" width="2000" msid="82216312" hostid="261"></div><p>At 8:04 a.m., SAG Bravo's ships opened fire on Sassan. Fifty airburst rounds from their 5-inch guns tore into the platform, and a ZSU-23 anti-aircraft was destroyed almost immediately after it tried to return fire. The US ships ceased fire to let more Iranians evacuate, then opened fire again with naval guns and from helicopters.</p><p>At 9:25 a.m., a team of Marines fast-roped onto the platform, securing it within 30 minutes. Two hours later they evacuated, destroying the platform with over 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives detonated remotely.</p><p>SAG Charlie opened fire on Sirri at 8:15 a.m. after its warning was sent and some Iranians evacuated. The platform erupted in flames, incinerating the remaining defenders. The fire was so intense that the SEAL Team landing was called off.</p><p>About three hours later, IRIS Joshan, an Iranian patrol vessel, approached SAG Charlie. Joshan ignored repeated warnings, the last of which said "Stop and abandon ship. I intend to sink you." The Iranian ship fired a single Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was defeated by US countermeasures.</p><div type="image" title="Marine Corps Marines Zu-23 Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1329" width="2000" msid="82216315" hostid="261"></div><p>Joshan was then hit by five missiles from SAG Charlie, destroying it in what was the first missile duel between warships. Joshan's burnt hulk was then sunk by US gunfire. An Iranian F-4 fighter jet approached but withdrew after it was hit by an anti-aircraft missile from USS Wainwright.</p><p>SAG Delta, meanwhile, was looking for the IRIS Sabalan. Five IRGCN Boghammers had attacked the Mubarak offshore oil field in retaliation, damaging some tankers and drilling rigs. In response, aircraft from Enterprise, using coordinates from SAG Delta, attacked the boats, sinking one and damaging the other four.</p><p>IRIS Sahan, another Iranian frigate, was then detected heading toward Mubarak. After firing at Enterprise's aircraft, it was torn to shreds by bombs and missiles from A-6 attack aircraft and the guided-missile destroyer USS Joseph Strauss. Sahan sank later that night.</p><p>IRIS Sabalan finally showed up two hours later and was hit by a single 500-pound bomb that went directly into its smoke stack, seriously damaging it and bringing it to a halt.</p><p>SAG Delta requested permission to finish Sabalan off, but the Navy decided to de-escalate and allowed it to be towed back to Iran.</p><h2>A different future</h2><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Four Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels, some of several to maneuver in what the U.S. Navy says are &quot;unsafe and unprofessional actions against U.S. Military ships by crossing the ships’ bows and sterns at close range&quot; is seen next to the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton in the Gulf April 15, 2020. U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS " height="1125" width="1688" msid="82216316" hostid="261"></div><p>By the end of the day, the Navy had destroyed two IRGCN bases, sunk three Iranian vessels, and seriously damaged five more, killing over 50 IRGCN and Iranian Navy personnel in the process.</p><p>American casualties were one SeaCobra and its two-man crew, who crashed while on a reconnaissance mission.</p><p>Operation Praying Mantis provides a glimpse of what a future naval conflict with Iran in the Persian Gulf could look like.</p><p>The use of small armed speedboats to attack critical oil infrastructure and tankers, the fortification of offshore oil platforms, the mining of important trading lanes, and the use of Iranian Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman are widely expected to be the primary tactics.</p><p>But a future conflict is unlikely to go as smoothly for the US as Operation Praying Mantis did, mainly due to Iran's <a href="https://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/Military%20Power%20Publications/Iran_Military_Power_LR.pdf" target="_top">military modernization and expansion</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Iran mockup aircraft carrier Bandar Abbas" height="1660" width="2500" msid="82216318" hostid="261"></div><p>Iran's Navy has gotten larger and more capable, with more vessels able to launch anti-ship missiles and at least three Russian-built Kilo-class attack submarines in service.</p><p>Last year, an Iranian Navy exercise included an attack on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-aircraft-carrier-shows-iranian-plans-to-fight-us-2020-7" target="_top">a barge designed to look like a US aircraft carrier</a>. In January, Iran <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38673/iran-commissions-its-massive-oil-tanker-turned-sea-base-into-service" target="_top">unveiled the Makran</a>, a "forward base ship" capable of carrying drones and helicopters.</p><p>The IRGCN has also been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/06/17/analyzing-irans-claimed-112-new-naval-vessels/?sh=47d52c677d48" target="_top">expanding</a> its numbers and capabilities, including recent reports that it is <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top">building large missile-laden catamarans</a>.</p><p>Iran's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-faces-a-huge-liability-in-countering-irans-use-of-sea-mines-2018-8" target="_top">sea mines remain potent</a>, but the biggest threat comes from <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/iran/" target="_top">Iran's missile arsenal</a>, which is considerably larger and more advanced than it was in the 1980s.</p><p>In recent years, Iranian missiles have been used to <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2021/03/saudi-air-defense-stops-most-houthi-strikes/" target="_top">attack</a> Saudi oil facilities and civilian sites, as well as <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5448/images-show-a-badly-damaged-hsv-2-swift-following-attack-off-yemeni-coast" target="_top">ships</a>. In January 2020, Iranian cruise missiles <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGP7hZQuTL0" target="_top">hit US bases in Iraq</a>, injuring over 100 service members.</p><p>Iran's missiles failed to hit their targets during Operation Praying Mantis, but things could be very different in the future.</p>

A deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get

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At 24, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=iran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Iranian</a> power-lifter <keyword id="3422265" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sajad-Gharibi">Sajad Gharibi</keyword> weighs 175 kgs and if rumours are to be believed, he may just be the biggest man you may ever see.<br />
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=powerlifting&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Power-lifting</a> is a sport that consists of lifting heavy weights in 3 positions and is practised by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bodybuilders&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">bodybuilders</a> all over the world.<br />
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<br /> Little is known about Gharibi, who has become an international sensation and been dubbed ‘the <keyword id="3422263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Iranian-Hulk">Iranian Hulk</keyword> and ‘Persian Hercules’ but gauging from the pictures he puts on his Instagram, it’s safe to assume that he loves to lift.<br />
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One look at Gharibi and you know that he’ll put all our <em>pehelwans</em> to shame with his towering body.<br />
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In his free time, he also likes to take pictures with objects that look infinitely smaller when placed next to him. Take this fanta can for example.<br />
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His Instagram account has more than 50,000 followers and Gharibi loves posting pictures of his daily life there. To follow him there, click <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sajadgharibii/">here</a>.<br />

Meet Sajad Gharibi, the Iranian power-lifter who might be the biggest man in the world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Petty Officer Jonathan R. Cilley/US Coast Guard</span></p><p class="caption">The crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell trains with the China coast guard on Saturday here. The Boutwell was here as U.S. Coast Guard representatives for the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum (NPCGF). This forum was developed to increase <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> maritime safety and security in the Northern Pacific Ocean and its borders.</p></div><p></p></div></div>A <a href="http://chinapower.csis.org/maritime-forces-destabilizing-asia/" target="_blank">recent report</a> from the <a href="https://www.csis.org/" target="_blank">Center for Strategic and International Studies</a> exposed a troubling tactic used by China to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-coast-guard-reponsible-majority-clashes-south-china-sea-2016-9" target="_blank">harass and intimidate</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-fishing-ships-near-senkaku-islands-2016-8" target="_blank">neighboring nations</a> into steering clear of their unlawful claims to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/csis-satellite-image-south-china-sea-2016-8" target="_blank">militarized islands</a> in the South China Sea.</p><p>In short, China has turned their coast guard into a sort of paramilitary force, the largest of it's kind in the world. In some cases, China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels have simply been painted white and repurposed for maritime "law enforcement."</p><p>Sometimes, the .50 caliber machine guns still hang over the sides of vessels once used for war and now used to intimidate neighboring nations.</p><p>But unlike military disputes, where internationally agreed-upon accords regulate standard operating procedures, these coast guard ships fall in a legal gray zone that China has come to exploit.</p><p>"What we have is a situation in East Asia where China in particular is not using naval vessels to intimidate, not using [traditional] force, but they're taking actions that are below that line of triggering any kind of military confrontation, and yet intimidating other actors," <a href="https://www.csis.org/people/bonnie-s-glaser" target="_blank">Bonnie Glasser</a>, an expert on security in the Pacific from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider in a phone interview.</p><p>Glasser, who headed up the report on China's coast guard, compiled 45 incidents in the South China Sea and found China's coast guard involvement in two thirds of them.</p><p>But according to Glasser, "what we have been able to compile is just a fraction of the number of incidents in the South China Sea," where China's larger ships have repeatedly rammed, harassed, and used water cannons on fishing vessels from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others.</p><p>"In my conversations in the Philippines - Chinese ramming of other ships is considered to be part of their acceptable rules of engagement. That's just what they do," said Glasser.</p><h2>Nothing stopping them</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">US President Obama walks down from the stage with Malaysian PM Najib after a family photo with ASEAN leaders after the US-ASEAN meeting at the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Recently, <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/world/2016-09/08/content_39257206.htm" target="_blank">China touted an agreement they reached with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)</a> on a Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), which provides a legal framework for how the navies of different nations should interact at sea.</p><p>According to Glasser, the legal framework marks a step in the right direction, but does nothing to stop the harassing actions of China's coast guard, which operates as a navy in all but name. What's more, the majority of signatories to the recent ASEAN CUES agreement had already signed a similar agreement in April 2014, rendering the agreement even more empty.</p><p>"China's ASEAN CUES agreement is not new, and was already agreed upon. [Chinese state media] portrayed it as some breakthrough... Everyone is applauding, and it's nice to have, but it doesn't address the problem," said Glasser. The real problem, of course, is that no meaningful laws regulate their paramilitary coast guard. </p><p>According to Glasser, there have been fatal incidents at sea, and not all involving China. Unlike in the Persian Gulf, where Business Insider previously reported that a hypothetically <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-playing-with-fire-in-persian-gulf-2016-9" target="_blank">fatal incident between Iran and the US would touch off a major international incident</a>, belligerent behavior like China's is the norm in the South China Sea.</p><h2>Looming conflict</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Renato Etac</span></p><p class="caption">In this Sept. 23, 2015, file photo, Chinese Coast Guard members approach Filipino fishermen as they confront each other off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, also called the West Philippine Sea.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"China is building very large coast guard vessels," and lots of them in a "quantity as well as quality" approach, said Glasser. The sheer size of the ships, usually weighing more than 1,000 tons, as well as the way they're armed, make other nation's law enforcement craft "pale in comparison."</p><p>Essentially, the Chinese bully civilian craft with hulking boats that intimidate on sight. Only Japan even comes close to having the capability to defend itself, with 105,000 total tonnage of coast guard ships to China's 190,000. But Glasser says that actual military capability should come second to infrastructure, in the form of internationally agreed-upon law.</p><p>"Putting in place acceptable procedures of behavior and other confidence building measures is the way to go, rather than everyone having the ships the size of China's," said Glasser, nodding to the potential arms race that could result from China's unilateral military buildup. </p><p>Glasser suggests that extending CUES to coast guard ships, as well as naval ships, could be a good model going forward. US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-china-summits-big-accomplishment-rules-the-sky-13960" target="_blank">reportedly discussed this topic in a recent meeting.</a></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Philippine Government via AP</span></p><p class="caption">This combination of Sept. 3, 2016 photos provided by the Philippine Government shows what it says are surveillance pictures of Chinese coast guard ships and barges at the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But it's hard to imagine China agreeing to something that would limit its influence. Japan <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-lend-phiilippines-ships-planes-against-china-2016-9" target="_blank">recently loaned some ships to the Philippines</a> to monitor the Scarborough Shoal, where China continues to visit <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/no-nine-dash-line-in-the-south-china-sea-2016-7" target="_blank">despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against their claims</a> to the land mass. </p><p>China <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-china-southern-airlines-mischief-reef-2016-7" target="_blank">has completely ignored this ruling</a>, and should they go as far as militarizing that shoal, which <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiJiYHdvIDPAhVJ1B4KHYt-AfcQFggcMAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fkevin-drum%2F2016%2F07%2Fobamas-red-line-south-china-sea-scarborough-shoal&amp;usg=AFQjCNFmbp4z2FgUKAQdqs-X-JKyqJp9ZA&amp;bvm=bv.131783435,d.dmo" target="_blank">Obama has warned against</a>, the US would be forced to act or risk losing all leverage in the region. </p><p>"Many different risks are posed if China goes ahead and develops the Scarborough Shoal... it would undermine US credibility, cause the Chinese to continue to test the US, and push forward a greater agenda of seeking control of the air and sea space," Glasser said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://news.usni.org/2016/07/19/take-position-scarborough-shoal">US Senator Dan Sullivan</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Furthermore, China undermining the US would cause "enormous anxiety in the region, with the US seen as weakening in it's ability and will," Glasser said.</p><p>"Reverberating effects, as well as security threats eventually posed by China having capability near main bases (the Subic Bay) would be a threat to the Philippines and the US."</p><p>So for now, China has found a loophole in international law that allows its paramilitary "<a href="http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2015-04-0/chinas-second-navy" target="_blank">second navy</a>" of a coast guard to muscle smaller nations out of their rightful claims. China has shown a persistent will to militarize and enforce its claims in the South China Sea. Unless the US, and its allies in the Pacific, can get China to agree to a legal framework, Beijing appears ready to continue pushing its claims by force.</p><p>There is a perceived weakness in the way international law is enforced at sea, and China is exploiting it handily. As Donald Rumsfeld said, "weakness is provocative."</p>           <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/world-deepest-sinkhole-discovered-south-china-sea-2016-7">Scientists just discovered the world's deepest sinkhole</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="QycHZ5NDE6IX-dgeTFubHRmCn16GVCTH" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

China is exploiting weakness in the South China Sea with its deceptive 'second navy'

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A deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get

Benjamin Brimelow

Meet Sajad Gharibi, the Iranian power-lifter who might be the biggest man in the world

Poulomi Das

China is exploiting weakness in the South China Sea with its deceptive 'second navy'

Alex Lockie

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