The US sends a submarine armed with missiles in the Persian Gulf to intimidate Iran
Amid fears that Iranian forces may target foreign tankers and commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf area, the US Navy has sent an attack submarine armed with Tomahawk missiles to waters near the Middle East, a Pentagon spokesman said Saturday.
The nuclear-powered submarine, currently en route, is based in Kings Bay, Georgia. Fifth Fleet spokesman Timothy Hawkins said the submarine is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and is deployed in the US Fifth Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability in the region.
It is still rare for the US Navy to publicly disclose the location or deployment of submarines, wherever they are globally . The submarine is likely to be able to patrol the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, frequented by international tankers, which also has a strong IRGC Navy presence, as it partly includes Iranian territorial waters near the coast.
The Associated Press notes that "the US Navy has also reported a series of tense encounters at sea with Iranian forces that it says were recklessly aggressive." But this new submarine deployment could also be part of a US tightening, as both Russia and China have increased their naval presence in the Gulf. A military response to the so far very successful Russian-Chinese attempt to exert hegemonic influence in the Middle East.
Just last month, Russia, China and Iran held several days of joint exercises in the Gulf of Oman, dubbed "Security Belt 2023". Also, last week a Russian warship docked in a Saudi Arabian port for the first time in a decade.
All this also takes place against the backdrop of the recent relaxation and normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, signed by China, which took the White House by surprise and which was then followed by the ceasefire negotiations in Yemen. Another success of diplomacy that has put the USA in second or third place.
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The article The US sends a submarine armed with missiles in the Persian Gulf to intimidate Iran comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/gli-usa-mandano-un-sottomarino-armato-di-missili-nel-golfo-persico-per-intimorire-liran/ on Mon, 10 Apr 2023 06:00:20 +0000.