Posted on 08/25/2019 11:49:19 AM PDT by robowombat
Fourth UK Warship to Join British Destroyers Patrolling Persian Gulf Amid Tensions With Iran
20:56 25.08.2019
Tim Korso
The UK recently joined a US-led maritime military coalition allegedly aimed at securing shipping in the Persian Gulf. The grouping was formed in light of the recent perceived instability in the region. The UK Ministry of Defence has announced that the destroyer HMS Defender will be joining other Royal Navy warships, the HMS Duncan, HMS Kent, and HMS Montrose, in their mission in the Persian Gulf. The quartet of naval vessels will be escorting UK-flagged ships in the region, according to the ministry.
The deployment comes as a part of London's participation in the International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC), a US naval coalition that Washington claims is aimed at ensuring the security of shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. London joined the IMSC along with Australia and Israel, while many other invited countries either ignored or turned down the offer.
HMS Defender fires Sea Viper Missile © PHOTO: ROYAL NAVY HMS Defender fires Sea Viper Missile The formation of the IMSC was announced by Washington in light of the seizure of a British-flagged tanker by Iranian authorities over alleged maritime violations. Tehran said that it would be investigating an incident where the UK-flagged vessel, the Stena Impero, had turned off its tracker device and collided with an Iranian fishing boat.
The seizure of the British ship came soon after authorities in Gibraltar detained an Iranian tanker following a US tip that it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions. Tehran denied the American claims and slammed the seizure as an act of piracy. The ship was later released on 15 August after being detained for over a month.
As long as the UK is involved in INSTEX, I question the UK’s motives for having a military presence in the Gulf.
Who cares what you think about what the brits are doing in the Persian gulf? What’s it to you?
They have their entire fleet there now, at least those that are able to get underway.
INSTEX tries to get around US sanctions. Perhaps that was the concern.
Ok, but Britain is leaving the EU, so the folks that were involved in INSTEX 6 months ago are not the ones in power in GB today.
To many eggs in a very small tactical basket.
Good time for Argentina to invade the falkand / Islas Malvinas again. If they want to really screw with the brits. The brits can’t do it again. Granted the island is much more heavily defended now.
England must have been guilted into sending it because they had previously said they couldn’t spare any.
Last I knew BoJo has yet to take a public position on remaining part of INSTEX....
IAC, why should anyone in the U.S. care when fighting breaks out between two moslem nations... Screw both the UK and Iran...
If oil stops flowing through the straights, it is primarily moslem nations (France, Germany, Spain, etc that will be inconvenienced... Not our problem... None of our business... It would just increase our oil exports...
And my apologies if my initial reply seemed curt. I just see so many ignorant comments, not yours in this case, about our naval roles in the region like we are only supposed to patrol our own coast line, that I didn’t understand why the comment about how Britain exercises its foreign policy in the region. My initial thought was it’s nice to have allies helping any time we can get them and who are we to criticize them. Again, my apologies if I read too much into your comment.
Why should you apologize? If the Brits want to help in a coalition to protect a vital waterway...more power to them.
I hope they got all the intercooler problems with that class of ships sorted out. I don’t think the scheduled refit work has been completed, though. Maybe they found an interim solution.
I am shocked that the Brits have 4 fully crewed and functioning warships!
Your point was my point and I didn’t see any linkage between the British naval tasking and INSTEX. But in retrospect I thought I could have more polite about it.
During the last war Thatcher was very circumspect in using submarines. Subs from the Royal Navy could wreak havoc on Argentine infrastructure.
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