Pentagon Mulls Placing US Troops On Shipping Tankers To Prevent Iranian Seizure

The Pentagon is pursuing strategic methods to stop additional seizures of worldwide vessels by Iran’s navy, significantly in and close to the very important Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf area. There’s been a collection of tit-for-tat tanker seizures of late between Tehran and Washington, because the US makes an attempt crude oil sanctions enforcement in opposition to Iran.

And now the US is mulling extra drastic motion, with The Associated Press reporting Thursday, “The U.S. military is considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, in what would be an unheard of action aimed at stopping Iran from seizing and harassing civilian vessels,” per 4 American officers cited within the report. Some studies now counsel Marines are already being educated for the proposed program.

The ongoing ‘tanker wars’ started in the summertime of 2019, and has extra not too long ago seen headlines akin to the next: Quiet US Seizure Of Iranian Crude Prompted Iran’s Capture Of Houston-Destined Tanker.

No particulars have as of but been revealed of the potential plan to put US navy personnel aboard tankers getting into ‘sizzling zones’ the place Iranian naval patrols are identified to frequent, nevertheless it comes following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying that further Marines have been despatched to the Gulf area.

Austin mentioned in late July that the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the twenty sixth Marine Expeditional Unit have been deployed, which consists of about 2,500 Marines, to supply “even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region.”

The amphibious readiness group consists of the Bataan warship and two others, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The group had already left Norfolk, Virginia earlier in July. 

Weeks ago the Pentagon sent the USS Thomas Hudner and additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to the region, to assist A-10 attack aircraft, as tankers have come under increasing threat – including an incident in which one was fired upon. 

“One official, talking on the situation of anonymity, mentioned the navy had already been coaching some Marines within the Middle East to be on the vessels.”https://t.co/3mH9aPGMaq

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 3, 2023

Interestingly, these further measures in opposition to Tehran are available tandem with the US sending extra superior fight jets to the area in response to aggressive habits from Russian plane over the skies of Syria. There’s additionally rising issues that pro-Iranian components will assault extra US outposts in northeast Syria.