Israel Matzav

Iran deploying naval task force in the Atlantic Ocean

It is said that the way in which the United States projects its power worldwide (or used to until the current President took office) is through its navy. If that is correct, this has to be a matter of serious concern.

It is one of Dyer’s Axioms that a nation doesn’t change its naval posture because it is content with the status quo. Iran continues to validate the axiom, and the latest announcement from her busy naval leadership is that the Islamic Republic will deploy a naval task force to the Atlantic in the near future as “part of a program to ply international waters.”

The development is not surprising, considering that Iran has maintained an antipiracy task force presence off Somalia for nearly three years now, sent a two-ship task force on an expedition to Syria earlier this year, and announced the deployment of a submarine to the Red Sea in June.

Granted, the Iranian navy hasn’t precisely bolstered its credibility with a near-simultaneous Pyongyang-style announcement that “enemies are dazed (amazed/surprised) by Iran’s huge naval achievements.” But an Atlantic deployment will be no particular stretch for the seamanship or technical capabilities of the navy (Iranian civil mariners ply all the world’s oceans anyway). Iran can get a three-ship task force – two warships and an auxiliary – over to the Atlantic without exhausting her capacities. The question about this deployment, assuming the political leadership remains constant, is not “if” but “when.”

There is another question about the deployment, however, and that is what the waypoints will be.

Continue reading here.

Labels: Atlantic Ocean, Iranian navy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:59 AM