US Strengthens ‘Defensive Stance’ in Gulf: White House

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By Webdesk


The move comes in response to “Iranian threats, armed seizures and attacks” on shipping vessels, a US official said.

The Pentagon will strengthen its “defensive stance” in the Gulf, a White House spokesman said, as Washington accused Tehran of launching more attacks on commercial shipping in the strategic Middle East region.

At a press conference on Friday, John Kirby accused Iran of harassing, attacking or interfering in the navigation rights of 15 international-flagged commercial vessels over the past two years.

“Today, the Department of Defense will take a series of steps to strengthen our defensive posture in the Arabian Gulf,” the White House spokesman told reporters.

It remains unclear what additional resources the US military will move to the region.

“We have seen repeated Iranian threats, armed seizures and attacks against commercial shippers exercising their navigational rights and freedoms on international waterways,” Kirby added.

Iran seized two international oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in late April and early May, including one bound for the US.

Iranian officials said one of the tankers collided with an Iranian ship and attempted to flee, while the other was taken to Iranian territorial waters as a result of a court order following a legal complaint.

But the Reuters news agency reported that the seizures followed the US confiscation of an Iranian oil tanker days earlier that had not been publicly announced.

US authorities have historically attempted to seize Iranian oil vessels in international waters to enforce unilateral sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, often leading to retaliatory action from Iranian authorities in the Gulf.

The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet said Wednesday it is pushing to deter threats and is “working with regional allies and partners to increase the rotation of ships and aircraft patrolling in and around the Strait of Hormuz following the recent illegal Seizure of Merchant Vessels by Iran”.

It accused Iran of violating international law. “Iran’s baseless, irresponsible and unlawful seizure and harassment of merchant ships must stop,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the Bahrain-based US fleet, said in a statement.

The recent spike in tensions between Iran and the US comes amid stalled diplomacy between the two countries.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has continued to impose and enforce a strict sanctions regime against Iran and its oil and petrochemical industries.

This week also marked five years since former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal that saw Iran phase out its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against its economy.

Biden, who was vice president when the 2015 deal was signed, had promised to revive the pact, but numerous rounds of indirect talks over the past two years have failed to reinstate it.

While Washington often reiterates that it will never allow Tehran to build a nuclear weapon, US officials recently said they are no longer focused on the nuclear talks as they address other issues related to Iran, which has denied seeking to nuclear weapons.

Relations between the US and Iran have been further complicated by a crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran and Washington’s allegations that Tehran supplied Russia with drones that Moscow used against Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in March, Iran signed a China-brokered pact with Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties with the Gulf Kingdom. US officials have vaguely welcomed the agreement, saying it could lead to curbing Iran’s “destabilizing actions”.



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