Pentagon Says US Navy Warships Will “Stay There” in Strait of Hormuz to Counter Iran

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

A continued powerhouse presence of US Navy firepower near the Strait of Hormuz does seem to be keeping Iranian hostility, harassment and small boat swarm provocations somewhat at bay, at least for the time being. Several weeks ago, the US Navy sent destroyers and amphibious assault ships to the Strait of Hormuz to counter a string of intercepts, provocations and aggressive disruptions in the region by small boat swarms aligned with the Iranian-regime backed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The absence of hostile activity may not make headlines as rapidly as hostile developments and provocations do, yet the IRGC has been quiet in recent weeks, a development which hardly seems coincidental as it corresponds to the forward presence of US Navy warships. Several weeks ago following a string of hostile and dangerous IRGC activities near the Iranian border in the Strait of Hormuz, the US Navy sent the USS McFaul, a DDG 51 Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyer and amphibious warship formations including the USS Bataan, an F-35B-armed Wasp-class ampib.

“As long as there remains a need for these forces to be in the region, they’re going to stay there. They are there to deter any threats or unprofessional or unsafe behavior from IRGC-backed groups,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh recently told reporters, according to a published DoD transcript.

While there has been a decrease in swarming small boat provocations, Iranian hostility has by no means disappeared, as it appears to be shifting into more of an “information warfare” kind of posture.  An Iranian International news report released pictures and an IRGC-video of the USS Bataan, a powerful US Navy amphibious assault ship. The Iranian news source says “IRGC Navy ‘Intercepts’ US Navy Warships.”  Despite the Iranian report that US ships were intercepted and warned, there is no reported incident of actual small boat provocation against the US warships. 

Longstanding Problem of Iranian Small Boat Threats

The problem of Iranian provocations in the region, which have recently included threatening small boat swarming as well as hostile intercepts, harassment and intervention of non-combatant commercial vessels, is a serious and long-standing one. The small boat threat presented by Iran has likely inspired US Navy efforts to strengthen and refine ship defenses to counter a rapidly approaching small boat swarms.