(Washington) The United States announced Monday to deploy a destroyer-type warship and F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to the Middle East to deter Iran from seizing boats in the Gulf.
“On July 5, an Iranian vessel attempted to illegally seize two merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Monday, noting that Iranian forces had opened fire on one of the tankers.
“In view of this continuing threat and in coordination with our partners and allies, the department [de la Défense] increases our presence and ability to monitor Detroit and surrounding waters,” she announced.
The official called on Tehran to “immediately cease these destabilizing actions that threaten the free flow of commerce through this strategic waterway”.
On Friday, a senior Pentagon official spoke of the United States sending a close air support aircraft to the Gulf, with on board “ammunition that could be useful against fast boats and moving targets. to respond to the “rapid boat attacks” observed.
The US Navy announced in early July that it opposed Iran’s seizure of two oil tankers in international waters off Oman.
The Iranian army had seized a tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands bound for the United States in late April in the Gulf of Oman, before seizing a tanker flying the flag of Panama transiting through the Strait of Hormuz a week later.
The United States regularly criticizes Tehran’s actions in this maritime zone.
Incidents have increased in the waters of the Gulf, a maritime zone crucial for the global transport of oil, since in 2018 the United States withdrew from the international agreement intended to limit the Iranian nuclear program, reimposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic targeting in particular its oil sector.