What is on the MV Iran Deyant

[Hanover Fist]

There are facts and conjecture about the Iranian Government owned cargo ship the MV Iran Deyanat.
The facts are this, The vessel is a 44,000 ton cargo carrier owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran shipping lines.
It left Nanjing China on July 28th 2008 and was scheduled to sail to Rotterdam where its manifest stated that it would offload 42,500 tons of iron ore and "industrial products" purchased by an unidentified German client.
As it passed the horn of Africa on its way to the Suez canal it was hijacked by Somali pirates on August 21st.

Thats when things get interesting. I'll post links from here on out so everyone can draw their own conclusions.
The allegation that the US has offered the pirates 7 million just to come onboard and inspect the cargo makes me think that there is something very important in that cargo.

Wikis entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Iran_Deyanat

Another mention with links and info
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2008...n-deyanat.html


Then this from TBR news

The MV Iran Deyanat. Photo from Maritime News Russia.





On August 21st, 2008, the MV Iran Deyant, 44,458 dead weight bulk carrier was heading towards the Suez Canal. As it was passing the Horn of Africa, about 80 miles southeast of al-Makalla in Yemen, the ship was surrounded by speedboats filled with members of a gang of Somalia pirates who grab suitable commercial ships and hold them,, and their cargos and crews for ransom. The captain was defenseless against the 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades blocking his passage. He had little choice other than to turn his ship over to them. What the pirates were not banking on, however, was that this was no ordinary ship.



The MV Iran Deyanat is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - a state-owned company run by the Iranian military that was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on September 10, shortly after the ship's hijacking. According to the U.S. Government, the company regularly falsifies shipping documents in order to hide the identity of end users, uses generic terms to describe shipments to avoid the attention of shipping authorities, and employs the use of cover entities to circumvent United Nations sanctions to facilitate weapons proliferation for the Iranian Ministry of Defense.

The MV Iran Deyanat departed Nanjing, China, July 28, and, according to its manifest, planned to sail to Rotterdam, where it would offload 42,500 tons of iron ore and "industrial products" purchased by an unidentified “ German client”. The ship has a crew of 29 men, including a Pakistani captain, an Iranian engineer, 13 other Iranians, 3 Indians, 2 Filipinos, and 10 Eastern Europeans, stated to be Albanians

The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. The Somali pirates attempted to inspect the ship's seven cargo containers but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the "access codes" and could not open them. Pirates have stated they were unable to open the hold without causing extensive damage to the ship, and threatened to blow it up The Iranian ship’s captain and the engineer were contactd by cell phone and demanded to disclose the actual nature of the mysterious “powdered cargo” but the captain and his officers were very evasive. Initially they said that the cargo contained "crude oil" but then claimed it contained "minerals." Following this initial rebuff, the pirates broke open one of the containers and discovered it to be filled with packets of what they said was “a powdery fine sandy soil”

Within a period of three days, those pirates who had boarded the ship and opened the cargo container with its gritty sand-like contents, all developed strange health complications, to include serious skin burns and loss of hair. And within two weeks, sixteen of the pirates subsequently died, either on the ship or on shore

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. and they witnessed some of the deaths due to exposure to ‘something on that ship.’


The Somali pirates initially set the ship's ransom at $2 million and the Iranian government provided $200,000 to a local broker "to facilitate the exchange." The $2 million dollar ransom agreement, which was supposedly secured on September 6th, never took place for reasons unknown. After September 10th, sanctions on IRISL were applied specifically because the company was said to engaged in illicit operations on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Serious negotiations were broken off completely. Iranian authorities subsequently denied that it agreed to the price nor had paid any money to the pirates. Nevertheless, after sanctions were applied to IRISL on September 10, Osman says, the Iranians told the pirates that the deal was off. "They told the pirates that they could not come because of the presence of the U.S. Navy." The region is patrolled by the multinational Combined Taskforce 150, which includes ships from the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Subsequently, it was disclosed that the U.S. government had offered to pay $7 million to the pirates to "receive entry permission and search the vessel." Officials in the Pentagon and the Department of State have consistently refused to comment on the situation.

The exact nature of the cargo remains officially a mystery but officials in Puntland and Baidoa are convinced the ship was carrying weapons to Eritrea for Islamist insurgents. "We cannot inspect the cargo yet," Osman said, "but we are sure that it is weapons."

[freegood]

They turned into this:


yarrr

[Le Goat]

Lulz Puntland

[White Rhino]

Thats messed up. 7 million just to see whats on board. So China sold potential biological weapons to a German man to sell to Iran. Seems a little fishy. Think these pirates knew what they were getting into? Or was it just dumb luck that they found all these problems.

[Morfin]

Iran and China = pwned by pirates
Pirates = pwned by Iran and China

Win/Win?

[White Rhino]

Uranium hexafluoride (UF6), referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry, is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.

This is what is rumored to be the powder substance.

[Grieves]

The U.S. offering $7 million to search the ship goes something like this: A special forces team boards the ship and kills everyone on board. They then plant explosives and exit the ship. The explosives go off. The ship goes to Davey Jones' locker and the U.S. claims there were components used to create nuclear weapons on the ship. They were in crates that were marked To: Iran, From: Russia. Of course retrieval of the ship or any evidence will be impossible. The U.S. then reluctantly gives Israel the green light to preemptively attack Iran and the only motherfucker crazy enough to want to be the next president is an old Vietnam P.O.W. who was tortured for five years, isn't afraid to go directly against the advice of those around him, and has a hot temper.

Can't wait.

[noahsdove]

I thought this was the new plot for the 3rd X files movie.

[Swurgen]

To hell with the x-files. We need the damn x-men.

[vasili denisov]

Ransom was paid.

Iran paid Somali pirate ransom

Iran's state radio says Iran has paid Somali pirates to secure the release of 29 seamen and their cargo ship hijacked in July.

The radio was quoting Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, head of Iran's Shipping Line as saying that Iran had to pay ransom to the Somali pirates to get the crew and ship back despite fears that it may set a bad precedent.

Dajmar on Saturday said Iran had been in telephone contact with the pirates to arrange shipments of food and water to the Iranian seaman before they were finally released Friday.

The pirates on Friday freed 29 Iranian seamen and their cargo ship, Iran Dianat, that was hijacked in July.

Here's one account by the sailors of their return and here's another. They make no mention whatsoever of any pirates getting sick or dying; given how toxic radioactive material is, and simply inhaling a small particle of it is enough to kill you, at least some of the crew should be very sick or dead. It's also, obviously, a very difficult death to witness and it'd be something you'd feel a need to talk about in an interview, instead of the unclean conditions or lack of food.

Given India's often adversarial position towards its muslim minority, if there was any suspicion that Iran was transporting nuclear or chemical materials based on what the crew saw, such allegations would have been made in this paper. They aren't.

One last thing:

The exact nature of the cargo remains officially a mystery but officials in Puntland and Baidoa are convinced the ship was carrying weapons to Eritrea for Islamist insurgents. "We cannot inspect the cargo yet," Osman said, "but we are sure that it is weapons."

There is no fucking way that Iran's Shia would supply weapons to Eritrea's Sunnis.

[Jatoza]

Still, the whole situation is pretty fishy. I really hope it's not weapons...

[White Rhino]

Where the fuck is the U.S. in all of this. I think they should know what is on that ship before it is released from the Pirates.

[BIG PIZZLE]

We are all going to die. They will attempt to attack within a year. Envelopes containing powder were sent to banks. It was harmless but what if it was a test run? If they were trying to see if the mail would carry it. Plus they wont put a pound of powder in the envelopes if they did it for real. A tiny trace will be sufficient. Maybe just even put it on the envelope. Plus mail and banks would be the perfect place to release virus because it will spread around with the mail and the money. My friends, we are all going to die it is the end of days. Stick to your guns.

[riseabove!]

edit: the crew wouldn't say anything if there was something

[White Rhino]

Originally Posted by BIG PIZZLE

We are all going to die. They will attempt to attack within a year. Envelopes containing powder were sent to banks. It was harmless but what if it was a test run? If they were trying to see if the mail would carry it. Plus they wont put a pound of powder in the envelopes if they did it for real. A tiny trace will be sufficient. Maybe just even put it on the envelope. Plus mail and banks would be the perfect place to release virus because it will spread around with the mail and the money. My friends, we are all going to die it is the end of days. Stick to your guns.

Stop scaring me. (as I start to plan my bomb shelter)

[Claydon]

Originally Posted by White Rhino

Uranium hexafluoride (UF6), referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry, is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.

This is what is rumored to be the powder substance.

that came to mind when i read that article.

but i am sure the iranians want it for peaceful purposes.

nice to see our eternal friends ze germans got our backs!

[vasili denisov]

Originally Posted by White Rhino

Where the fuck is the U.S. in all of this. I think they should know what is on that ship before it is released from the Pirates.

It already has been released.

Originally Posted by riseabove!

edit: the crew wouldn't say anything if there was something

The sailors returned home less than a week after they were taken off the ship. If you came from an isolated area where sixteen people died of radiation poisoning through exposure, you wouldn't be allowed back into the general population without a much longer quarantine.

[Blue]

They could have sent Blackwater's Navy after it.