Over 3,000 US military personnel arrive in the Red Sea aboard two warships, following Iran’s tanker seizures, leading to accusations of regional instability and inflaming tensions.
More than 3,000 United States military personnel have arrived in the Red Sea aboard two warships, part of a beefed-up response from Washington after tanker seizures by Iran, the US Navy said Monday.
The deployment adds to a growing US military buildup in tense Gulf waterways vital to the global oil trade and led Tehran on Monday to accuse the US of inflaming regional instability.
The US military says Iran has seized or attempted to take control of nearly 20 internationally flagged ships in the region over the past two years.
The US sailors and Marines entered the Red Sea on Sunday after transiting through the Suez Canal in a pre-announced deployment, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
The Bahrain-based command added that they arrived on board the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall warships, providing “greater flexibility and maritime capability” to the Fifth Fleet.
The deployment adds to efforts “to deter destabilizing activity and de-escalate regional tensions caused by Iran’s harassment and seizures of merchant vessels,” Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins said.
USS Bataan is an amphibious assault ship that can carry fixed-wing and rotary aircraft and landing craft. The USS Carter Hall, a dock landing ship, transports Marines and their gear and lands them ashore.
In a Monday press conference, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said US deployments only serve Washington’s interests.
The latest deployment comes after Washington said its forces blocked two attempts by Iran to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman on July 5th.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
