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.
The Harsh Reality Everyone’s Missing About Massive Lithium Find in Appalachia
Rand Paul vows to keep pressure on Fauci as statute of limitations on criminal referral expires Monday
Fact Check: Is Hantavirus Poised to Become a COVID-Style Pandemic?
Virginia Democrats roasted over spelling mistakes in redistricting documents
This Is How Terror Spreads: 3 Australian Women Back from Syria Face Slavery, Terrorism Charges
Supreme Court’s junior justice goes on solo tear as Trump fights put her at odds with the bench
Mayor Overruled After He Dissolved Entire Police Force Following Dispute with His Wife
AOC, asked about running for president, says her ambition is ‘way bigger than that’
Nancy Guthrie was alive when abducted, blood evidence shows ‘last stand’ on front porch: retired FBI agent
Where Trump, GOP vs Democrats redistricting battle heads next in wake of key court rulings
Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure
Minnesota nonprofit accused of siphoning $6.5M to fund Vegas trips, luxury cars, private liquor store
Alabama mother sentenced to life for hiring hitman to kill her child’s father over custody dispute
Trump warns college sports could be ‘lost forever’ as committee pushes changes, Congress urged to act
Duffys fire back after Pete Buttigieg, husband attack new road trip TV series: ‘Radical, miserable left’
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.
