A NEW naval task force to be commissioned tomorrow aims to tackle Iran’s supply of weapons to the region.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper who commands the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) said human trafficking and arms smuggling remain the ‘big threats’ to the region and need to be tackled.
The fourth task force of the CMF - the Combined Task Force (CTF) 153 - will enhance CMF’s efforts to deter and destabilise malign activities, added Vice Adm Cooper who also commands the US Naval forces Central Command (NAVCENT).
“The Iranian connection is well established through a number of avenues,” said Vice Adm Cooper, acknowledging the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE earlier this year using weapons supplied by Iran.
“By having a taskforce (CTF 153) there (Red Sea, Bab Al Bahrain and Gulf of Eden), we will definitely increase our deterrent posture against all types of malign activities and more specifically, any destabilising activities, because one of the missions (of CTF 153) is to conduct operations that counter illegal flow of drugs and weapons.
“I think there will be an impact on these circumstances – we’ll able to do it more vibrantly and more directly than we do today.”
CMF has had three task forces – the CTF 150 which focuses on maritime security outside the Arabian Gulf, CTF 151 dedicated to counter piracy across the entire region and CTF 152 targeting maritime security inside the Arabian Gulf.
Speaking to reporters at a virtual media roundtable from the CMF headquarters in Juffair, Vice Adm Cooper said the CMF had ‘sufficient assets’ for the missions that he has been assigned with.
“CTF 152 ensures maritime security in the Arabian Gulf and just last week, we’ve had one to three ships from each of those nations out at sea on any given day. And CTF 153 will have between two and eight ships - I’m optimistic,” he added.
Vice Adm Cooper highlighted that last year witnessed a three-fold increase in military exercises in the region with the ‘enormously capable’ Egyptian navy joining the CMF.
“We’re teaming with a lot of navies who are very capable, who understand the waters and by doing that, we’re going to find ourselves in a better position,” he said.
“Looking at the challenges – they are very broad and they vary from human trafficking, to smuggling of illegal materials such as coal, and then the smuggling of drugs and weapons - those are the big ones.”
Commenting on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) small boat activity in the region, he said CMF taskforces tackle these at sea “every single day”.
“The overwhelming majority of those interactions are safe and professional…and I think we’re at a status quo right now,” he said.
The IRGC allegedly operates a fleet of 1,000 small boats which have been used throughout the last century in asymmetric warfare attacks on both military and civilian targets, combating a materially superior adversary without direct confrontation. Many, including the US Navy, suspect that any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz, would include the use of small boats, potentially in suicide attacks. The Strait, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20 per cent of all oil traded passes, is one of the three critical choke points – the others being the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab Al Mandeb.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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