Sailors and Marines with the Navy’s Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived in the Middle East yesterday as part of a pre-announced deployment to support deterrence efforts in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere, said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
“As we have been for a very long time, we’re coordinating with our partners in the region when it comes to U.S. military presence because, again, it’s not just the U.S. military that’s out there patrolling commercial shipping lanes. We’re working as part of a broader coalition … on that effort,” Ryder said told reporters.
Last month, the Iranian navy attempted to illegally seize two merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
According to a news report from U.S. Central Command, on July 5, U.S. forces already in Centcom’s area of responsibility participated in preventing two commercial tanker ships from being seized by the Iranian military in international waters near the coast of Oman.