//The Wire//2300Z November 14, 2025//
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//BLUF: PENTAGON ANNOUNCES OPERATION SOUTHERN SPEAR IN CARIBBEAN. IRAN HIJACKS OIL TANKER. ATTEMPTED STABBING REPORTED AT PARIS TRAIN STATION.//

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-International Events-

Middle East: This morning Iranian forces seized a crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The M/T *TALARA* was hijacked and taken into Iranian waters. This vessel is flagged out of the Marshall Islands, but is owned and operated by the Pasha Finance company out of Cyprus.

France: This morning a stabbing attack was reported at the Montparnasse train station in Paris. One 44-year-old man was shot by police after becoming erratic and waving around a knife. One person was also wounded during the police response; a bystander was shot in the foot by a stray bullet intended for the man with the knife. The assailant survived the shooting, and was taken into custody.

Analyst Comment: Not much is known about this attack, however locals state that the man was traveling with his wife and children, when a domestic dispute broke out. The man became belligerent and produced a knife, before police rapidly intervened.

Caribbean: Yesterday evening the Pentagon announced the formalization of the effort to combat drug trafficking in the region. The mission is now called Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR, and is expected to expand into a broader military campaign.

Analyst Comment: So far, not much has come of this, it's really just giving a name to bring the whole effort under a unified umbrella of command. However, it does highlight that this campaign is just that...a campaign. The end goals of this mission as stated continue to be vague, just the general concept of combating drug trafficking in the region.

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Analyst Comments: This afternoon, Venezuelan accounts on social media published footage of a shootdown incident involving Venezuelan F-16's and an unidentified civilian aircraft. Per the reports, Venezuela shot down the unidentified civilian aircraft. At the moment two videos have been circulating on this topic and a few photos that reportedly show the impact site have emerged as well, so at face value this does appear to be a genuine shootdown incident. However, most of the context is missing; this could have been a mistake, or something to do with narcotics trafficking, or even more of a military/espionage sort of thing. As the source veracity isn't really know, it's hard to verify. Either way, shooting down an aircraft at a time when tensions are extremely high in the region doesn't do much to cool the situation down.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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