Iran Loves This: The Royal Navy Doesn’t Have Enough Ships to Patrol Persian Gulf
The Royal Navy plans briefly to double its number of warships in the Persian Gulf following an attempted attack by Iranian forces on a British oil tanker on June 20, 2019.
But the temporary increase in British warships in the region, from one to two, underscores just how few ships the Royal Navy can deploy even in an emergency.
Iranian boats tried to “impede” the British oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reported. HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, “was forced to move between the three boats and the tanker,” according to the BBC.
Hegseth on Iran Strikes: People ‘Hell-Bent on Prophetic Islamist Delusions Cannot Have Nuclear Weapons’
Trump says US sank 10 ships in Iran strike, ‘last, best chance’ to act
Oversight demands DOJ answers on foreign funding of agitator groups as Iran, anti-ICE protests continue
Second senator endorses Graham Platner in Maine Senate battle
Macron goes nuclear with increases to French warhead arsenal
How Gulf States are responding to Iran’s retaliatory strikes
VIDEO: Young Woman Brags She’ll “Kill the **** Out of My Baby” – This Is What Turning from God Has Done to Our Country
US surges forces to Middle East as Pentagon warns Iran fight ‘will take some time’
Retired general who once led Air Force Research Laboratory goes missing
Friendly Fire in Kuwait Downs Three American Fighter Jets, All 6 Crew Members Eject Safely
Trump: WH Identified Ayatollah’s Potential Successors, First Strike Was So Successful ‘They Are All Dead’
Trump and DeSantis lock horns in GOP split over AI
US warplanes shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, pilots bail out, CENTCOM says and more top headlines
Chasing the apocalypse: Radical Shiite clerics on American soil preach prophetic showdown with US
3 US warplanes shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, pilots bail out in friendly fire incident, CENTCOM says
The British government claimed the attacking boats belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps militia. The IRGC also allegedly was behind several recent bomb attacks targeting oil tankers in the Gulf and surrounding waters.
Tensions have escalated in the Middle East following U.S. president Donald Trump decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the 2015 deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program. After Trump restored economic sanctions, Tehran resumed stockpiling uranium.
The July 2019 tanker incident compelled the Royal Navy to accelerate by several weeks a planned deployment to the Gulf by the Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan. Montrose and Duncan together will patrol the Persian Gulf before Montrose returns to U.K. waters for maintenance.
Duncan sailed south through the Bosphorus on July 13, 2019. The destroyer had been in the Black Sea region for NATO exercises.
