The top US Navy official in the Mideast said on Sunday the US has reached an “uneasy deterrence” with Iran after months of regional attacks and seizures at sea, even as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran over its nuclear program.
Vice Adm. Sam Paparo, who oversees the Navy’s 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, struck an academic tone in comments to the annual Manama Dialogue hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
He described having a “healthy respect” for both Iran’s regular navy and the naval forces of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the US designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019.
“We have achieved an uneasy deterrence. That uneasy deterrence is exacerbated by world events and by events along the way,” the vice admiral said, The Associated Press reported.
Paparo offered a different stance than his immediate predecessor, Vice Adm. James Malloy, whose last comments to journalists in August, referred to Iran as “reckless and provocative” and always trying in dramatic naval drills to “lower the denominator until they’re sure that they can look like they’ve won something.”
Malloy’s tenure saw oil tankers seized by Iran and a series of limpet mine explosions targeting tankers that the Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran denied being involved, though Revolutionary Guard members were filmed taking an unexploded mine away from one tanker.
Notably, the several months that Paparo’s been in charge have not seen any major crises.
The Revolutionary Guard typically patrols the shallower waters of the Arabian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s regular navy largely operates in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. While previous commanders have made a point to differentiate between the professionalism of the two, Paparo dismissed it as an “old idea” that included a lingering belief that the service was still loyal to Iran’s former shah, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“Forty-one years into the revolution, I think we can dispense with that notion,” the vice admiral said.
“I sincerely doubt there’s a difference among them.”
Paparo also said he did not believe the 5th Fleet’s mission would be affected by the Navy potentially reconstituting a 1st Fleet responsible for the Indian Ocean.
Still, Paparo’s remarks carried a clear warning, quoting former US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at one point.
“Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone in the room,” he said. “That’s how we conduct ourselves at sea.”
