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"There is an effort... to employ security details composed of both Marines and Navy sailors on commercial tankers transiting in and near the Strait of Hormuz as an added layer of defense for these vulnerable ships," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. An invitation is needed to do so because the ships are private vessels, but "we are undergoing preparations to execute should final agreements be in place to do that," the official said. The United States is boosting its forces operating in the region, announcing last month that it would deploy a destroyer, F-35 and F-16 warplanes,...

Iran’s pro-regime media on Wednesday said that the country’s missiles and drones now have the “strategic straits” of the region in their crosshairs. The article in Iran’s Tasnim, which reflects the IRGC’s way of thinking about the region, says that Iran can now threaten Bab el-Mandeb off Yemen, the Straits of Hormuz between Iran and the Gulf and even the Suez Canal. The threat to the Mandeb and Hormuz area was well known in the past, but Iran now appears to have added Suez to its list of strategic choke-points for world trade that it says it could threaten. The...

Dubai -- A US Navy warship fired a warning flare to wave off an Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat coming straight at it during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Tuesday. The incident on Monday involving the Guard and the Navy comes as tensions remain high over stalled negotiations over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels under decreasing international oversight. Meanwhile, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Iran now plans to enrich uranium through a second set of advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordo...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is constructing a massive new ship that would expand its reach to new waterways. The ship is being built near the Strait of Hormuz in order for Iran to create a larger presence in the strategic shipping lane, which is of international importance for the transport of energy supplies, the Associated Press reported. The Strait of Hormuz, located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is the only sea route from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. It is considered one of the world’s most important shipping points for oil, with an average...

Japan will not join a US-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force independently, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday. Citing unidentified government sources, the Yomiuri said Japan was considering a plan to send its Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) on information-gathering missions in the areas around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab shipping lane between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea. It would also consider including the Strait of Hormuz in the SDF’s sphere of activity if Iran agrees, the paper said, according to Reuters.

Jeremy Hunt today warned that Iran may be choosing a “dangerous path” of “illegal and destabilising” behaviour after it seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf. The cargo vessel Stena Impero had been sailing through the Strait of Hormuz en route to Saudi Arabia when it was surrounded by four vessels and a helicopter at 4pm yesterday in an escalation of tensions between London and Tehran.

Iran has seized a second tanker, US official says From CNN's Barbara Starr Iran has also seized a second tanker, the Liberian-flagged MV Mesdar, according to a US official. Two more US officials tell CNN that, according to maritime intelligence reports, the indication is the Mesdar has been seized. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced earlier that its navy has captured a British-flagged tanker ‘Stena Impero’ in the Strait of Hormuz. The order of seizure of the two ships isn’t clear at this time.

Iran is planning to charge foreign ships a toll in exchange for "protection" across the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route and a flashpoint in the escalating dispute between the United States and the Islamic Republic. A member of the Iranian Parliament's presidium said foreign commercial entities should compensate Iran as "the true provider of security in the region and international waters," according to the state-run Tasnim News Agency. Amirhossein Qazizadeh Hashemi claimed ships enter Iranian waters on their way through the strait and should therefore pay a toll. That assertion doesn't jibe with clearly defined international agreements, former...

The Indian Navy is sending two warships to the Gulf of Oman to protect the country’s shipping in the wake of a series of attacks on tankers there in the past six weeks. The guided-missile destroyer INS Chennai and the patrol vessel INS Sunayna “have been deployed in the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf to undertake maritime security operations,” an Indian Navy statement said. Surveillance aircraft are also being dispatched in what India is calling Operation Sankalp. India announced the operation Friday, one day after Iran said it shot down a US spy drone over the Gulf of Oman....

Image caption: One US official identified the drone as a US Navy MQ-4C Triton A US military drone has been shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile while in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, US officials say. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it shot down the drone over Iranian airspace, near Kuhmobarak in the southern province of Hormozgan. IRGC commander Maj-Gen Hossein Salami said the incident sent "a clear message to America", state media said. It comes at a time of escalating tension between the US and Iran. On Monday, the US defence department said it...

Play: U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Bob Brown Watch: More troops to head to Mideast as Iran tensions rise In a major provocation, Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, a U.S. official told ABC News. The incident is sure to trigger serious discussions within the Trump administration about how to respond to a direct attack on a U.S. military asset that goes beyond recent attacks in the Middle East that the U.S. has blamed on Iran. (More: US...

Iran’s Al-Alam television network cited local sources in Oman as saying that two successive explosions were heard in the Sea of Oman on Thursday morning. The sources said the blasts were caused by “attacks” on the tankers, according to the report. Local Pakistani sources also said the giant tankers had sent distress calls to the sea’s littoral states, the report added.

The Acting Secretary of Defense has approved the movement of USS Arlington (LPD-24) and a Patriot battery to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) as part of the command’s original request for forces from earlier this week. These assets will join the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a U.S. Air Force bomber task force in the Middle East region in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against U.S. forces and our interests. The Department of Defense continues to closely monitor the activities of the Iranian regime, their military and proxies. Due to operational security, we...

Crude oil prices could jump as high as US$250 a barrel if Iran goes through with its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. pressure on oil buyers to cut their Iranian purchases to zero, RT reports, quoting analysts. The most bullish among these analysts was Artem Avinov from online broker TeleTrade, who saw prices skyrocketing to US$250 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked, disrupting about 17 million bpd in seaborne oil trade. Avinov, however, added that this course of events is very unlikely, suggesting Iran would instead opt for “a quick economic...

Four vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "harassed" a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a "high speed intercept" in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz ... came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an action that was "unsafe and unprofessional."

US defense officials confirmed Wednesday the Iranian regime attempted to intercept a US Destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz. Four Iranian ships harassed and carried out a “high speed intercept” in the strait of Hormuz. Four Iran Ships "Harassed" US Destroyer, Carried Out "High Speed Intercept" In Strait Of Hormuz https://t.co/V6oXq33T1a — THE SPARK of LIBERTY (@United_Ignited) August 24, 2016

Iran’s leaders voiced outrage this week — and even threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — following a Republican congressman’s proposed legislation seeking a stronger response to Tehran’s recent provocative actions against the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, including the capture of ten Navy sailors in January. A senior Revolutionary Guard commander threatened to shut down the entrance to the Persian Gulf, where one-third of the world’s oil exports passes each day, after learning about Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes’ bill. The bill, coming in response to an incident earlier this year in which the Iranian National Guard...

The remarks by the acting commander of the Guard also follow those of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who on Monday criticized US activities in the Persian Gulf. It’s unclear whether that signals any new Iranian concern over the strait or possible confrontation with the US following its nuclear deal with world powers. The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In his remarks, Salami said that “Americans should learn from recent historical truths,” likely referring to the January capture of 10 US sailors who entered Iranian waters. The sailors were...

Iran's navy warned a U.S. warship on Wednesday to leave waters near the Strait of Hormuz where the Iranians were testing submarines, destroyers and missile launchers, news agencies reported. The commander of Iran's fleet, Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, told Tasnim news agency the U.S. ship was trying to collect information in the Sea of Oman - an area close to the Strait, a vital oil and gas shipping route - and said it left quickly after the alert.

The game of international power dynamics has just shifted in a major way. It will take a little time for the consequences to be visible to the public eye. But I don’t think it will take that much time. We’re talking months, at most, if not weeks. Iran is getting no pushback from the “international community,” and is moving quickly now.