JEDDAH: The United States has sent two warships and over 3,000 sailors and Marines to the Red Sea in a stepped-up reaction to Iran’s threat to commercial shipping.
According to the Pentagon, Iran has taken or attempted to seize control of over 20 international flagged ships in the region during the last two years.
The fresh US forces landed on board the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall on Monday, giving “greater flexibility and maritime capability,” according to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The deployment contributes to efforts “to deter destabilizing activity and de-escalate regional tensions caused by Iran’s harassment and seizures of merchant vessels,” according to spokesperson Cdr. Tim Hawkins.
Bataan is an amphibious assault ship capable of transporting fixed-wing planes, helicopters, and landing craft. The Carter Hall, a dock landing ship, transports and lands Marines and their equipment.
On July 5, US forces foiled two efforts by Iran to seize commercial tankers in international waters off the coast of Oman. According to Tehran, one of the tankers, the Bahamian-flagged Richmond Voyager, collided with an Iranian vessel, injuring five crew members.
Iran seized two oil ships in area waters within a week in April and early May. These episodes occurred after Israel and the US blamed Iran for a drone strike on an Israeli-owned ship off the coast of Oman in November.
Last month, the United States said that it will send a destroyer, F-35 and F-16 fighter planes, and a marine expeditionary battalion to the Middle East to dissuade Iran from seizing ships in the Gulf. Washington is also planning to place Marines and sailors on commercial tankers in the Gulf.
According to Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, US deployments serve only Washington’s interests.”The US military presence in the region has never provided security.” “Their interests in this region have always compelled them to foment insecurity and instability,” he remarked. “The Gulf countries were capable of ensuring their own security,” he claimed.
“Security will remain a friction point in US-Gulf relations even if the threat posed by Iranian attacks against shipping eases in the short term,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt of risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
“The perception that the United States is not doing enough to deter Iranian attacks on international shipping will endure.” “A new approach is clearly required.”
Source: Arab News
