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The United States on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that it has approved $7 billion in long-stalled sales of Boeing Co (BA.N) fighter jets to Kuwait and Qatar, and more than $1 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) jets to Bahrain, sources familiar with the decision said. The sales had been pending for more than two years amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that arms sold to Gulf Arab states could be used against it, and criticism of Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials began notifying lawmakers informally about the sale of 36...

Iran threatened to shoot down two US Navy surveillance aircraft flying close to Iranian territory in the Persian Gulf over the weekend, the latest in a series of recent provocations between Iran and the US military in the region, three US defense officials with knowledge of the incident told Fox News. On Sept. 10, a Navy P-8 Poseidon with a crew of nine and an EP-3 Eries with a crew of roughly 24, were flying a reconnaissance mission 13 miles off the coast of Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, according to officials. Iran’s territorial waters—like...

A U.S. Navy patrol coastal ship was harassed by seven Iranian vessels on Sunday and narrowly avoided colliding with one, in the latest in a string of incidents in the Persian Gulf. Seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast in-shore attack craft (FIAC) approached USS Firebolt (PC-10) while it was operating in international waters in the central Persian Gulf on Sept. 4, a defense official told USNI News. Three of the FIACs maneuvered close to Firebolt, mirroring the ship’s course and speed at a distance of about 500 yards for about eight minutes before leaving. Another FIAC then sped...

Yesterday, we reported that four Iranian ships carried out a "high speed intercept" of a US destroyer, the USS Nitze, in the Strait of Hormuz, an incident that the official dubbed "unsafe and unprofessional", cited by Reuters. The four vessels belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "harassed" a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a "high speed intercept" in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. Defense official said on Wednesday. Moments ago, CNN reported that in a separate incident, A US Navy ship fired three warning shots after a "harassing" Iranian fast-attack craft approached and...

Weak leadership, poor judgment, a lack of “warfighting toughness” and a litany of errors led to the embarrassing capture and detention by Iran of 10 U.S. sailors in the Persian Gulf in January, according to a Navy investigation released Thursday. Six officers and three enlisted sailors have been disciplined or face disciplinary action. The trouble began even before the sailors left port in Kuwait aboard two 50-foot boats on a short-notice, 300-mile journey to Bahrain. They were delayed, unprepared, poorly supervised and ill-suited for the mission, the report said. …

Royal Navy's most advanced destroyers break down in the Gulf because the water is too WARM, bungling defence chiefs admit Britain's £1billion a piece Type-45 Destroyer ships break down in warm water and are being retrofitted with diesel generators, defence chiefs have admitted. Complicated Rolls Royce gas turbine engines work in the cold water around Britain but the vessels have been left adrift in the Gulf on several occasions because of failures. The problem first became apparent when HMS Daring lost all power in the mid-Atlantic in 2010 and had to repaired in Canada. The ship needed fixing again in...

They have absolutely no fear of America under Obama’s leadership. In a recent TV interview, IRGC Navy Commander Ali Fadavi said: “The Americans are aware that if they make even the slightest mistake, their naval vessels will be sunk in the Persian Gulf, the Hormuz Strait, and the Sea of Oman.” He further claimed that Iran’s vessels would emerge from “undersea tunnels,” in which “no force will be able to harm our naval vessels.” In the interview, which aired on IRINN TV on May 10, Fadavi maintained that the crew of U.S. vessels is now obliged to speak Farsi in...

Iran has released two United States Navy patrol boats and 10 crew members who were described as "trespassing" in Iranian waters near a major naval base, state news media reported on Wednesday. The Pentagon and the State Department said that one of the boats had experienced mechanical problems en route to Bahrain from Kuwait on a routine mission on Tuesday, and the Iranians appeared to have accepted that explanation.

Washington (CNN)Ten American sailors are in Iranian custody after two small U.S. naval craft apparently briefly entered Iranian territorial waters, a U.S. senior defense official said Tuesday. The official, however, expects the situation to be resolved quickly. A senior administration official said there is nothing to indicate this was anything hostile on the part of any entity in Iran, adding that the U.S. has received high-level assurances that the sailors will be released promptly. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told CNN's Jake Tapper that President Barack Obama will be in touch with members of Congress about the incident. "Certainly,...

Iran has taken two small U.S. Navy ships into custody, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, creating a diplomatic scramble just hours before President Obama's State of the Union address. A senior defense official said two U.S. Navy riverine craft were going from Kuwait to Bahrain when they encountered Iranian military vessels. Ten American sailors were taken into military custody, the official said. "They ran into some type of an issue, and were picked up by the Iranian craft," the official said, who added the issue is not yet understood. "Subsequently, U.S. and Iranian government officials have discussed the situation and negotiated...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says it briefly lost contact with two small Navy craft in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday but has received assurances from Iran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook tells The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. Cook says, "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly."

WASHINGTON — A rare gap in the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf this fall could hinder military capabilities in the war against the Islamic State, the Obama administration’s nominee to lead the Navy told the Senate Thursday. Adm. John Richardson conceded the effects of a two-month gap in carrier presence — the first since 2007 — under intense questioning from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as the Senate Armed Services Committee weighs whether approve the admiral’s nomination as chief of naval operations. “Without that carrier, that will be a detriment to our capability, yes, sir,” Richardson...

)—Five Iranian boats fired shots across the bow of a Singapore flagged cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday in an attempt to potentially stop the ship, a U.S. official told CNN. For the first time, the incident brought another Persian Gulf nation into the recent rising maritime tensions in the region. It is not yet clear if any of the rounds hit the Alpine Eternity. There were no U.S. citizens or cargo on board. The Pentagon is still gathering information about the incident.

An Iranian military observation aircraft flew within 50 yards of an armed U.S. Navy helicopter over the Persian Gulf this month, sparking concern that top Iranian commanders might not be in full control of local forces, CNN has learned. An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter approaches the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in November 2014. An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter approaches the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in November 2014. The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, troubled U.S. military officials because the unsafe maneuver could have triggered a serious incident. It...

Though Iran’s Great Prophet-9 military exercise ended last month, you can count on Tehran’s military to wring every last drop of bellicosity from the event—such as showing off an apparently armed drone taking a bead on a ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Iran conducted the exercise during the last week of February, and centered it around the theatrical, Michael Bay-esque destruction of a stationary wooden aircraft carrier prop floating off Iran’s Larak Island.

Reports indicate that Marine General James Mattis is being forced out of CENTCOM for questioning certain aspects of the Obama administration's Middle East policy. In particular, it appears his questions surrounding the U.S. response to Iran's nuclear ambitions drew the ire of civilian military and security advisers. These civilians were apparently upset by the way Mattis pushed them to "consider second and third-order consequences of military action against Iran." Nor did they appreciate the way he pushed them to think long term and consider what the U.S. will do if Iran develops non-nuclear weapons that can be used to keep...

Iran has ended its large scale Great Prophet 9 exercise in the Persian Gulf, test firing a “new strategic weapon,” which it says will play an important role in the future battle against the US. The test was performed on the final day of the exercise, staged by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passes. "The new weapon will have a very decisive role in adding our naval power in confronting threats, particular by the Great Satan, the US," Admiral Ali Fadavi, Iran’s navy chief, told the Revolutionary...

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday that a new laser weapon deployed into Persian Gulf earlier this year performed seamlessly during testing that wrapped up in November, and declared the weapon a success. Deployed for the first time aboard the U.S.S. Ponce in September, the Office of Naval Research released a video Wednesday of the LaWS (laser weapon system) taking out two test targets

A Marine lost at sea after bailing out of a MV-22 Osprey when it appeared it might crash in the Persian Gulf is believed to be the first American military casualty in support of U.S. operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Cpl. Jordan L. Spears, 21, was declared dead after search and rescue efforts to locate him were unsuccessful, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement released Saturday. Asked how Spears death will be classified, Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters the question was still being decided. "Clearly, that squadron and that ship were...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A U.S. Coast Guard vessel fired in self-defense on an Iranian boat in the Persian Gulf, the Navy said Wednesday, an encounter that could exacerbate tensions between the two countries as they work to hammer out a lasting deal over Iran's nuclear program. Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said personnel on a small boat dispatched from the U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat Monomoy fired a single shot when it saw crew on a nearby Iranian dhow training one of its two .50-caliber machine guns on them and preparing...