The Pentagon announced on Thursday night the deployment of additional forces in the Gulf, making it the third reinforcement of US military presence in a month and raising questions about its scale and frequency. Washington has expressed concerns over the increasing links between Iran, Russia, and Syria across the Middle East, and it is considering several military options to address these threats.
On Thursday evening, the US Department of Defense announced the deployment of additional resources to bolster the US Central Command’s capacity for deterrence against incidents provoked by Iran in the Gulf waters.
“In response to recent attempts by Iran to threaten the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and its surrounding waters, the Secretary of Defense has ordered the deployment of a portion of the BATAAN Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) comprised of the USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall, and its associated personnel and equipment into the USCENTCOM area of responsibility (AOR), in addition to the recently approved forces comprising F-35s, F-16s, and a guided missile destroyer, the USS Thomas Hudner,” declared the Pentagon press release received by This is Beirut.
“Through these actions, the United States is demonstrating commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation and deterring Iranian destabilization activities in the region,” the statement added.
As stated in the press release, they are specialized American naval vessels designed for amphibious assault missions. They carry multiple hovercrafts with transport capacity for troops and/or military vehicles intended for assault operations.
These ships also have several vertical take-off and landing aircraft, such as helicopters or “Ospreys”.
Their French equivalents in the National Navy are the “projection and command ships” (or BPC by its acronym in French), such as the Mistral, deployed in Lebanon following the double explosion on August 4th, 2020.
Approximately 2,000 members of the Marine Corps will be part of the deployed personnel.
The US Central Command (US Centcom) oversees this deployment. It is one of the six “Unified Combatant Commands” with worldwide geographical responsibilities. The Centcom headquarters has been based at Al-Udeid military base in Qatar, the most extensive US military base in the Middle East since 2002.
The US deployment comes in response to several recent incidents in the Gulf waters. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological Iranian army, seized a merchant ship in the international waters of the Gulf on July 6th. This action followed two other thwarted attempts the day before, which involved US Navy intervention.
The IRGC is often accused of disrupting maritime traffic in the Gulf, a crucial naval zone for global oil transportation, especially since the US withdrew from the international nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018, which led to reimposed sanctions on the Iranian Republic, mainly targeting its oil sector.
“Military options”
Furthermore, according to the Associated Press, a senior Pentagon official anonymously stated last Friday that the US is increasingly concerned about the growing links between Iran, Russia, and Syria across the Middle East.
The official informed journalists that the US is considering several military options to address Russia’s increasing aggression in the skies over Syria.
On three occasions since early July, incidents have occurred between Russian and American aircraft over Syria. The US criticized a Russian fighter jet’s “dangerous” maneuvers when approaching an American reconnaissance aircraft.
On July 6th, Russian fighter jets harassed American drones conducting surveillance missions against Daesh (ISIS) jihadists in Syrian airspace.
The Russian military activity, which has intensified since March, resulted from increased cooperation and coordination between Moscow, Tehran, and the Syrian government in an attempt to pressure the US to leave Syria.
The Pentagon official declined to provide details about the options being considered, but emphasized that the US would not cede any territory and would continue to conduct anti-Daesh missions in the west of the country.
Around 900 US soldiers operate in Syria as part of a coalition to counter Daesh elements in the Syrian Desert. US Air Force strikes from bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates often support them.
