Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear programme comes under attack.
"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."
"We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear programme," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said.
Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy.
But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 1996, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft.
Asked whether the U.S. Navy was prepared for an attack or other trouble in the Gulf, Fox said: "We are very vigilant, we have built a wide range of options to give the president and we are ready... What if it happened tonight? We are ready today."
Iranian officials have threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet to the Gulf through which nearly all of the Middle East's oil sails.
Asked if he took Iran's threats seriously, Fox Said: "Could they make like extremely difficult for us? Yes they could. If we did nothing and they were able to operate without being inhibited, yeah they could close it, but I can't see that we would ever be in that position."
He added that diplomacy should be given priority in resolving the tension.
"So when you hear discussion about all this overheated rhetoric from Iran we really believe that the best way to handle this is with diplomacy... I am absolutely convinced that is the way to go. It is our job to be prepared. We are vigilant."
Contacts between the U.S. Navy and Iranian craft in the Gulf region were routine, Fox said, referring to cases where his sailors helped Iranian ships that were in distress or threatened by pirates.
In addition to commanding the Fifth Fleet, Fox is also the commander of a multinational naval task force charged with ensuring Gulf shipping routes stay open. Although most of its firepower is American, the task force also includes other Western countries and the Gulf Arab states.
The European Union slapped an embargo on Iranian oil last month, which is due to kick in completely by July 1. The United States and EU have both imposed new sanctions on Iran's central bank which make it difficult for countries to pay Tehran for oil and for Iran to pay for the goods it imports.
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Iran is building up its forces in the Persian Gulf and has prepared speedboats loaded with explosives. That is according to a senior US naval official, who also said that the US is still capable of preventing Iran from blocking the Strait of Hormuz."They have increased the number of submarines [to 10], they increased the number of fast attack craft," the commander of US naval forces in the region, Vice Admiral Mark Fox, told reporters on Sunday. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."
The head of US’s Fifth Fleet also added that the United States has been watching with interest how Tehran develops its long-range rockets and various ballistic missiles, not mentioning the country’s nuclear program.
The 2000 suicide attack of Al-Qaeda’s small boat on the destroyer USS Cole in a Yemeni port, which killed 17 sailors, exposed a relative vulnerability of huge battleships before such attacks. Now, the US command says it takes these threats seriously, also adding that it is prepared for them.
"We are very vigilant, we have built a wide range of options to give the president and we are ready… What if it happened tonight? We are ready today," Vice Admiral Fox assured.
Nevertheless, Fox added, diplomacy should be given priority in resolving the tension.
With Iran’s disputed nuclear program remaining at the core of the problem, the mutual flexing of muscles between Washington and Tehran has intensified when the latter threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz – a vital link for oil transit between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The EU oil embargo has also increased tensions in the region.
Iran went as far as making a series of threats in recent weeks to strike US forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its nuclear program comes under attack. The war of words has already prompted Washington to send squadrons of war ships into the area, backed by British and French war ships.
With all that, military experts point out that Iranian naval forces are no match to America’s Fifth Fleet, headed by Mark Fox. It always has at least one aircraft carrier with scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers.
Joe 3:9 ¶ Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Joe 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.
Joe 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
Joe 3:12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
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