The US Navy has unexpectedly dispatched a fourth aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, along with a fleet of underwater drones in what is being considered just the latest move in a series of escalations leading towards a potential war with Iran.
The deployment of dozens of small, unmanned submarine-like watercraft was confirmed by the Los Angeles Times this week, which cites military officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
This particular type of craft, unmanned SeaFox submersible, are reported to be sent to the Gulf so that the US military can detect and destroy any mines that may be planted in the waterway by Iranian officials if they escalate efforts to block the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important narrow stretch of water that exists as an immensely important conduit for any resources being moved in or out of the Middle East.
The Times says that the subs, at only 4 feet long and fewer than 100 pounds apiece, can move at speeds up to six knots at depths of 300 feet. The price-tag is reported to be $100,000 each, which includes an intricate waterproof television camera and a homing sonar system. The US rush-ordered a shipment in May in a deal with Germany under the direct of Marine Gen. James Mattis, the top US commander in the Middle East. It is reported that a fleet of SeaFox subs were deployed overseas several weeks back, but has only been confirmed now.
The United States has already sent three massive aircraft carriers to the waterways outside of Iran, including the USS Enterprise, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Abraham Lincoln, and will now add the USS John C Stennis to that fleet in August. Unlike these behemoth ships equipped with billions worth of weaponry and service personnel, America’s other new addition to the battlefront is invisible to those on land and can be controlled from anywhere in the world.
“In the Cold War, minesweeping warfare was a large part of what the Navy did, but we have lost a lot of our minesweeping capability,” Christopher Harmer, a senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, tells the Times.“The SeaFox is a relatively simple, off-the-shelf system that we can put off our minesweepers but also any surface ship.”
Harmer adds to the paper that although Iran has the capabilities of coming through with its threats of closing the strait, the latest addition to the United States Navy would make sure a blockade wouldn’t last long.
“If they wanted to close the Strait of Hormuz, they could do it, but they would only be able to do it one time,” he says.
The new fleet of SeaFox subs will accompany two massive aircraft carriers and a collection of F-22 fighter jets that America has already sent towards Iran. When the United States upped its presence in Persian Gulf earlier this year, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters, “We want them to know that we are fully prepared to deal with any contingency and it’s better for them to try to deal with us through diplomacy.”
Iran’s Navy expanding deployment of Special Units in International Waters
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps naval force is expanding its presence in international waters, IRGC Navy Commander General Ali Fadavi said, adding that the special units of the IRGC Navy are deployed on all Iranian ships traversing international waters.
“When the sea piracy in the Gulf of Aden started, first the IRGC Navy’s special forces were dispatched to the region and stayed there for four months,” General Fadavi told reporters on the sidelines of the 18th annual meeting of the IRGCN.
“Later” he said “the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army sent its naval troops to the region and our forces have been present in those waters alongside the army forces ever since then.”
“The Special forces of the IRGC Navy are present on all Islamic Republic of Iran’s ships in Eastern and Western Indian Ocean in a bid to prevent any kind of (hostile) move,”added the general.
“The presence of the IRGC naval forces in free waters will expand in future,” he added.
Iran’s naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy also said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the IRGC has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces.
According to the report, Iran’s Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world’s oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.
The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran’s response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.
The Islamic Republic’s top military officials have repeatedly warned that in case of an attack by either the US or Israel, the country would target 32 American bases in the Middle East and close the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
An estimated 40 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through the waterway.
A recent study by a fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Caitlin Talmadge, warned that the IRGC Navy could use mines as well as missiles to block the strait, and that“it could take many weeks, even months, to restore the full flow of commerce, and more time still for the oil markets to be convinced that stability had returned”.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has described the Iranian Army’s Navy as “a strategic force”.
“Given the current issues of the world and today’s geopolitical conditions of the world, we should strengthen ourselves in sea and in coast as far as we can,” Ayatollah Khamenei stressed on November 28, 2010, addressing senior Navy commanders here in Tehran in a ceremony to commemorate the National Navy Day.
The leader also stressed that increasing manpower, recruiting talented personnel and taking innovations and initiatives into action are highly necessary for the future of the country’s naval forces.
Ayatollah Khamenei further praised the close cooperation between naval forces of the Islamic Republic Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
The Iranian Army Navy and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy have tight cooperation in controlling the country’s waterways and protecting Iran’s interests inside territorial waters and in the high seas.
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