It also serves as a warning to the US and its allies that the Islamic Republic has the means to retaliate, particularly as American sanctions result in the seizure of ships carrying Iranian crude oil. Some 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the narrow waterway connecting the Arabian Gulf to the wider world.įor hard-liners in Tehran’s theocracy, the move projects power to surrounding nations as part of a wave of assaults attributed to Iran since 2019. There is no sign that diplomacy will revive the deal soon, while Iran in recent weeks has resumed harassing and seizing ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The dispatch of the troop-and-aircraft-carrying USS Bataan to the Gulf, alongside F-35 stealth fighters and other warplanes, comes as the United States wants to focus on China and Russia.īut Washington is seeing once again that while it is easy to get into the Middle East militarily, it is difficult to ever get fully out, particularly as Iran now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. It is a sign that while America’s wars in the region may be finished, its conflict with Iran over its advancing nuclear programme continues to worsen, with no solutions in sight. Thousands of Marines backed by advanced US fighter jets and warships are slowly building up a presence in the Arabian Gulf.
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