John Kirby, “The Department of Defense will take a series of moves to strengthen our defense position,” stressing that “details about these reinforcements will be issued in the coming days.”
The White House spokesman said today, Friday, that “the United States is in the process of sending reinforcements to the Gulf” after what it described as Iran’s growing harassment of ships in the waters of the region, and this comes in the wake of Tehran’s detention of two oil tankers in the Gulf waters, one of which was heading to the United States.
For his part, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, “The Department of Defense will take a series of moves to strengthen our defense posture,” stressing that “details about these reinforcements will be issued in the coming days.”
He also stressed that Washington “will not allow any foreign or regional powers to threaten freedom of navigation through the waterways of the Middle East, including the Strait of Hormuz,” through which a fifth of international oil exports pass.
--In the context, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, Commander of the Central Command of the US Naval Forces, the Fifth Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces, confirmed that there is cooperation with allies to increase the rotation of ships and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz, indicating that the increase of the multinational force in the Strait of Hormuz will prevent Iran from threatening ships.
Over the past years, the arch-enemies, Washington and Tehran, have exchanged accusations over a series of incidents in the Gulf waters, including attacks on ships, the shooting down of a drone, and the seizure of oil tankers.
The Gulf waters have witnessed a series of tensions in the past years, the latest of which was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s detention on May 3 of an oil tanker flying the Panamanian flag in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, according to what the US Navy and Tehran announced.
