US ‘Deterrence’ Forces Approach ‘Hormuz’ Following Iran's Threats

In this image obtained from the US Central Command, US Air Force A-10s fly over the USS McFaul during operations in the Gulf, on August 15, 2023. (Photo by Handout / US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
In this image obtained from the US Central Command, US Air Force A-10s fly over the USS McFaul during operations in the Gulf, on August 15, 2023. (Photo by Handout / US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
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US ‘Deterrence’ Forces Approach ‘Hormuz’ Following Iran's Threats

In this image obtained from the US Central Command, US Air Force A-10s fly over the USS McFaul during operations in the Gulf, on August 15, 2023. (Photo by Handout / US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)
In this image obtained from the US Central Command, US Air Force A-10s fly over the USS McFaul during operations in the Gulf, on August 15, 2023. (Photo by Handout / US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)

The United States is boosting its military presence in Gulf waters to deter Iran's increasing threats to ships and oil tankers, in a step aimed at enhancing Washington’s role in protecting the strategic region.

After arriving earlier this week in the Gulf of Oman, the USS Bataan and the USS Carter approached the Strait of Hormuz, boarding about 3,000 US soldiers to join the US bases in the Gulf.

US-led maritime forces are warning ships against approaching Iranian waters.

The moves follow a spate of seizure and attempted seizure of ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea that holds a fifth of world oil output.

The spokesman for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, Commander Tim Hawkins, said that there is a “heightened threat and risk to regional mariners in terms of seizures” by Iran in the strait.

"Right now, our focus is on ... increasing our presence in and near the Strait of Hormuz to ensure security and stability in a critical waterway," Hawkins told AFP at the US naval base in Bahrain.

The attacks on tankers came during troubled relations between Washington and its Gulf allies, who have long relied on US protection for their oil assets and chafed at a perceived military drawdown.

According to the US military, Iran has seized or attempted to take nearly 20 ships in the region in the past two years.

Most recently, Washington said its forces prevented two Iranian attempts to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman on July 5.

Iran seized two tankers within a week in regional waters in April and May.

Last Friday, the US-led naval coalition in the Gulf region warned ships sailing in the Strait of Hormuz to “transit as far away” from Iran’s waters as possible to avoid being detained.

A few days earlier, Washington announced the arrival of more than 3,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East on board warships as part of a plan to boost the military presence in the region, which it confirmed aims to deter Iran from seizing ships and oil tankers.

According to Hawkins, the military build-up provides Washington with "more robust forces where needed," noting that the new elements have joined more than 30,000 US soldiers stationed in various regions of the Middle East.

Although the US previously sent troop reinforcements to the Gulf, including in 2019, as a response to Iran tensions, Washington is now considering unprecedented measures.

In early August, a US official said in press statements that his country was preparing to place Marines and Navy personnel on board commercial tankers crossing the Gulf as part of an additional defense plan.

"We have sailors; we have Marines trained here in the region to carry out whatever mission they are tasked with," Hawkins said.

The military build-up coincides with a deal that took place a few days ago between the administration of President Joe Biden and the Iranian leadership regarding the exchange of prisoners and the liberation of Iranian funds that were frozen in South Korea under US sanctions.

Experts and diplomats said the agreement could help boost efforts to address concerns, but tensions could remain.

The Iranian news agency, IRNA, quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) spokesman, Ramazan Sharif, as saying last week that his country “can reciprocate any vicious act by the US, such as seizing ships.”

On August 2, the IRGC conducted maneuvers on the occupied Emirati island of Abu Musa, including training in deploying combat forces and operationalizing and equipping new IRGC boats with 600km-range missiles.

The maneuvers came amid diplomatic tension between Tehran and Moscow after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) welcomed an Emirati initiative to reach a peaceful solution to the issue of the three occupied islands through bilateral negotiations or the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The UAE and Tehran claim the islands Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb, but Iran has held them since 1971.

The spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, told the Tasnim news that his country does not “pull any punches with anyone regarding the three islands, and these islands belong to Iran.”

He accused Western countries of seeking to raise the issue to justify their presence in the region, saying they want to prove their presence to be legitimate under certain pretexts and stay in the Gulf, the Sea of ​​Oman, and regional waters of West Asia.

“Your presence is illegal, and you must leave the region,” he asserted.

- Bolstering alliances

Dina Arakji, an associate analyst at Control Risks consultancy, called the increased US presence a "shift in posture."

"The move by the US likely aims to reassure Gulf Arab states that Washington remains committed to the region's security," Arakji said.

"Increased Iranian hostility and Chinese engagement with the region has caught Washington's attention," she added, noting the US "now aims to bolster its alliances."

Despite the prisoner deal earlier this month, separate attempts to revive a landmark 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran have effectively collapsed.

"With no sign of a diplomatic agreement between the US and Iran, the only alternative is more effective deterrence," said Torbjorn Soltvedt of the risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.

But "the perception that the US isn't doing enough to deter Iranian attacks against international shipping will persist" as long as incidents continue.



Latest North Korean Ship Can Carry Dozens of Missiles, Analysts Say 

In this photo provided Thursday, March 27, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center left in a black jacket, stands by what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone at an undisclosed location in North Korea, earlier this week. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided Thursday, March 27, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center left in a black jacket, stands by what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone at an undisclosed location in North Korea, earlier this week. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
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Latest North Korean Ship Can Carry Dozens of Missiles, Analysts Say 

In this photo provided Thursday, March 27, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center left in a black jacket, stands by what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone at an undisclosed location in North Korea, earlier this week. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided Thursday, March 27, 2025, by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center left in a black jacket, stands by what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone at an undisclosed location in North Korea, earlier this week. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea's new class of warship can accommodate dozens of vertical launch cells to carry missiles its military has already developed, analysis of a satellite image showed, a step that would give its navy more punch and create an export opportunity.

Little is known about the unnamed class of ships being built in the Chongjin and Nampo shipyards. In December, South Korea's military said they would displace about 4,000 tons, somewhat less than half the size of a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Images captured of the ship in Nampo in the last week of March, however, show cavities on its deck large enough to hold more than 50 missiles, depending on their type, said researcher Jeffrey Lewis.

"They're pretty big cavities," said Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California.

"I would think 32 (missiles) in front and a few fewer in the back would be a very reasonable number. Or it could be a much smaller number of ballistic missiles."

Vertical launch systems (VLS) allow ships to carry more missiles, and make launching and reloading easier.

Lewis said North Korea had developed several different types of missile that would be compatible with VLS cells, which Pyongyang had not fielded on any previous surface ship.

Such types include anti-ship cruise missiles, land attack cruise missiles, air defense missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, he added.

The new ships' armament seemed to hew close to South Korean navy standards, said Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"I think we have to take conventional enhancements seriously, because North Korea has limited resources and has invested in nuclear weapons to close the deterrence gap with the Republic of Korea and United States," he added.

"So it must fit within their concept of operations, even if the concept appears odd to us."

North Korean state media released first photos of the ship in December, when leader Kim Jong Un conducted an inspection.

He later made several more visits to the shipyards, where the country said as recently as early March it was also building its first nuclear-powered submarine.

"Overwhelmingly powerful warships must serve as a strong nuclear deterrent against hostile forces' habitual 'gunboat diplomacy,'" state media reported Kim as saying.

South Korea's national defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lewis said compatibility with a VLS would make the weapons even more attractive as exports for countries that are cut off from, or cannot afford, other arms suppliers.

"If you were interested in buying North Korean anti-ship missiles because they were cheap, it would be awfully nice if they came in a tested VLS system," he said.

"Quantity has a quality all its own. Those North Korean missiles might not be as good as their Russian counterparts, but they are much, much cheaper."

The new ships, although more advanced than others in the North Korean fleet, may not make much of a difference in conflict, said Collin Koh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Their locations are well-known, they cannot operate far from North Korean shores and are decades behind the technology in South Korean and US warships.

But they show Pyongyang is serious about investments to improve its navy, he said.

"The North Korean navy is largely traditionally a coastal defense navy," he said. "So they are likely trying to reinvigorate the fleet."

Last year Kim stressed the importance of strengthening North Korea's navy. It recently finished fitting out its latest Sinpo-C ballistic missile submarine, according to 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring program.