Uninvited Guest
TEHRAN – While countries of the both sides of the Persian Gulf are moving toward de-escalation, the United States has decided to ramp up tensions in the region by sending additional fighter jets.
The U.S. move to send another fighter jets to the Persian Gulf under the pretext of countering Iran’s alleged destabilizing moves has raised eyebrows even among Persian Gulf Arab analysts who didn’t expect the U.S. to shore up its military presence in the Persian Gulf given the remarkably calm atmosphere in the region.
The Pentagon has recently said it is sending high-end F-35 fighter jets and a Navy destroyer to the region to thwart alleged threats posed by Iran. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh announced the F-35 deployment on Monday, saying some of the aircraft may already be en route, but did not say how long they would remain in the region, according to Al Monitor.
Late last week, a US Navy guided-missile destroyer — the USS Thomas Hudner — arrived at the Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain after passing through the Suez Canal.
Also, over the weekend, the U.S. Air Force began flying newly-arrived F-16s on patrols over the Persian Gulf to watch over commercial shipping.
USAF A-10 Warthog tank-busters based in the region since late March began flying regular patrols over the Persian Gulf earlier this month, part of a consolidation of US and allied patrols around the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S has justified its increased military activity in the region with alleged threats by Iran to international shipping, which seems to be failing to even convince U.S. Arab allies in the region.
The new U.S. deployment of new military equipment comes at a time when Iran and its southern Arab neighbors are moving down a path of de-escalation with a clear vision for enhanced cooperation in many areas.
This is evident from the repetitive contacts between Tehran and its Arab neighbors. Recently, the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, embarked on a tour of four Arab countries -namely Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. And throughout his tour, an atmosphere of amity and friendship prevailed. Since then, many agreements have been signed between Iran and its southern Arab neighbors.
Most recently, the foreign minister of Oman, Badr Albusaidi, visited Tehran, where he said Iran-Oman relations are an example of close relations in the region.
And Iran-Saudi relations are getting on the right track after years of tensions. They have named ambassadors after formally restoring their diplomatic relations. Amir Abdollahian has said in remarks to state TV that Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia will soon arrive in Riyadh to discharge his duties.
He also said that Iran and Saudi Arabia intend to build a sustainable economic relationship.
Despite all this positive atmosphere, the U.S. still believes that the Persian Gulf region needs a majordomo. And that seems to have surprised even the Saudis.
Eyad al-Refaei, a Saudi analyst, has implicitly accused the United States of trying to militarize the Persian Gulf region and booby-trap it with large quantities of weapons at a time when some countries of the region, headed by Saudi Arabia, are proactively seeking to “eliminate problems, remove stumbling blocks, and get the region out of the circle of conflicts.”
He made the remarks on Twitter in response to the U.S. announcement about the deployment of additional fighter jets.
Iran also denounced the U.S. move as destabilizing. In the first Iranian reaction to the American step, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Tehran believes that Washington's decision destabilizes security in the region, indicating that Tehran reserves its right to take appropriate and deterrent measures when necessary.
Kanaani stated that the role of the United States in issues related to regional security was not a “peaceful” or “constructive” one, and its current positions would cause anxiety in the Persian Gulf and destabilize security in the region, according to Al Jazeera.
He stressed that in the event of taking any “provocative measures near our maritime borders, our armed forces are able to guarantee the security of our borders, and guarantee the security of maritime and air navigation in this region, and we reserve our right to take appropriate and deterrent measures when necessary.”
The reactions from both sides of the Persian Gulf make it clear that the U.S. is sending military assets to the region in a way that is inconsistent with the diplomatic atmosphere there. Therefore, the U.S. move to send additional fighter jets is another indication that it has turned into an uninvited guest.
To overcome this, the U.S. is making the case that Iran is a threat to maritime security. It cites previous cases when Iran seized ships with smuggled fuel.
Earlier this month, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy troops seized a foreign oil ship carrying over a million gallons of illicit fuel in the Persian Gulf. The large haul of illicit petroleum was intercepted on June 6 at Iran’s southern maritime border, the commander of the IRGC Navy’s second naval zone told reporters.
The foreign vessel was getting military assistance from U.S. troops, according to General Ramezan Zirahi, but alertness, professional action, power, and precise response by the IRGC Navy stopped the Americans’ unlawful and unprofessional actions in the Persian Gulf.
He said that as Iranian soldiers were inspecting the “NADA 2” oil ship, which was systematically smuggling gas oil out of Iran, American forces engaged in a number of risky and unprofessional actions to thwart the legitimate seizure of the fuel.
During the operation, the IRGC servicemen discovered that the oil tanker’s captain was calling the U.S. command and control center to make plans for an escape, according to General Zirahi. Zirahi added that the U.S. officer had instructed the oil tanker’s captain to turn off the engine and wait for American military forces to arrive for assistance.
In an attempt to thwart the seizure operation, the Americans sent two A-10 combat aircraft, a P-8A reconnaissance plane, two Hawk-C helicopters, an MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle and patrol vessels to the area, the IRGC general explained.
However, he said, the IRGC forces responded professionally by issuing stern warnings to all American aircraft, drones, and vessels, and brought the oil tanker to Bushehr port for legal proceedings.
A few days later, a senior U.S. defense official said that the United States is boosting its deployment of fighter planes in the vital Strait of Hormuz to defend ships from Iranian alleged snatchings and that the U.S. is getting more worried about the developing relations between Iran, Russia, and Syria in West Asia, according to Associated Press.