The United States military is deploying additional resources to the Middle East in response to an increasingly aggressive Iran.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of the USS Thomas Hudner, F-35 fighters, and F-16s, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh announced during Monday’s press briefing.
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“The department is increasing our presence and ability to monitor the Strait [of Hormuz] and surrounding waters,” she explained, though she did not provide many additional details.
Earlier this month, Iranian naval forces attempted to seize commercial vessels traveling in the region, including one episode in which they opened fire at a ship.
An Iranian navy vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, though it departed when the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived at the scene on July 5. Roughly three hours later, another Iranian vessel began harassing the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager in international waters roughly 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman.
The Pentagon announced in May it would be increasing its maritime presence in the region due to repeated Iranian seizures of commercial vessels.
Last week, a senior defense official told reporters that Iran was partnering with Russia in an attempt to push the U.S. out of Syria and the region.
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“My assessment, and we have some evidence to support this, is that as Russia and Iran have pulled themselves closer together, that there is interest on both sides to push us out of Syria, to put a pressure campaign on us,” the official said. “There’s a confluence of interest between these three, the Iranians, Russians, and Syrian, and my assessment is that there’s a degree of cooperation, collaboration, planning, where they potentially are looking at how they pressure us over time to push the U.S. out.”
The official believes that there is a “qualitative difference here now” in the Iranians’ aggressive stance given the strengthened relationship between Iran and Russia forged during the latter’s war in Ukraine.
