Persian Gulf

Threats to commercial vessels around the Arabian Peninsula are growing after U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Iran has “domination” over American interests in the region and can strike the U.S. in “less than half a day,” according to a senior Iranian Ayatollah who called for “blood vengeance” against the United States for numerous “American crimes,” following Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in the heart of Tehran last week.

Iran confirmed on Wednesday it would seize the oil aboard the Advantage Sweet, a cargo ship the regime seized in the Persian Gulf in April alleging it had been involved in a maritime collision.

The deployment follows the seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo vessel by Iranian-backed Yemeni Huthis in the Red Sea on November 19.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday announced that it quietly withdrew from a U.S.-led security coalition called the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) two months ago.

Iran’s president on Tuesday used the country’s annual Army Day to repeat blood curdling threats to destroy Israel while adding for good measure a demand the U.S. exit the Middle East immediately.

SINIYAH ISLAND, United Arab Emirates — An ancient Christian monastery possibly dating as far back as the years before Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula has been discovered on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, officials announced Thursday.

Six Persian Gulf states have threatened Netflix with legal action if it continues broadcasting content found “offensive” to Islamic sensibilities, apparently targeting programs that show people who are gay and lesbian.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Monday that two B-52H Stratofortress nuclear-capable bombers flew across the Middle East on Sunday in a Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission that included fighter escort planes from the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and briefly Israel.

Iran has “immense naval power” that enables it to project force into the contested waters of the Strait of Hormuz and beyond. That is the unalloyed warning from the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, to both the U.S. Navy and the “old fox” British Royal Navy.

A U.S. Navy warship fired a warning flare early Tuesday to repel a speedboat from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) during a tense encounter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged Saturday that Iran took the oil from two Greek tankers last month in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is building a massive new support ship near the strategic Strait of Hormuz as it tries to expand its naval presence in waters vital to international energy supplies and beyond, satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press show.

The upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — Marvel’s sequel to the hit 2016 superhero film “Doctor Strange” — has been banned in Saudi Arabia over a key LGBTQ superhero in the movie.

The cargo ship Al Salmi 6 sank in the Persian Gulf Thursday, and according to reports one of the thirty crew members remains unaccounted for.

NICE, France — French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the energy-rich Persian Gulf Friday, hoping to seal a major arms contract after this fall’s Australian submarine deal debacle and to strengthen France’s role in the region.

Following an Iranian drone attack on an Israel-operated oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Oman that left two dead last week, Iranian advocacy group Iranian Americans for Liberty released a statement blasting the Biden administration’s “weak” response and calling on the president to “get tough.”

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The hijackers who captured a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman departed the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, as recorded radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker.

Russia is ready to enhance Iran’s spying capabilities by giving the Islamic republic access to an advanced satellite system, according to a U.S. media report.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday they warned U.S. Navy vessels to watch their behavior after Washington said warning shots were fired near Iranian fast attack boats, the latest confrontation between the rivals in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, said Thursday no foreign warships would dare enter its territorial waters because of the nation’s seaborne superiority, promising a “grinding response” awaits any intruders that tried.

Iran claims the right to retaliate over an alleged Israeli attack on one of its ships, the regime’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber joined escort aircraft of Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in a flight over the Persian Gulf, in a show of force aimed at Iran.

Iran is behind a mysterious explosion on an Israeli cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf and a response will be forthcoming, Israeli defense officials said over the weekend.

Russian news sources reported Monday that Russia, China, and Iran will hold joint naval drills in the northern Indian Ocean in the next few weeks. The precise date and scope of the exercises were not specified.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces on Friday held a military exercise involving ballistic missiles and drones in the country’s central desert, state TV reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a U.S. pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses flew a direct, 36-hour round-trip flight from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to the Persian Gulf on Friday, marking the fourth such show of force in the past 60 days, U.S. Central Command said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the lavishly-funded theocratic wing of the Iranian military and a designated terrorist organization, held a ceremony on Friday to showcase a new underground strategic missile site located on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.

The Iranian government on Tuesday denied that it is holding a South Korean-flagged tanker and its crew hostage, retorting that South Korea is the “hostage” taker for freezing $7 billion in Iranian funds after the United States re-imposed sanctions against Tehran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the theocratic wing of the Iranian military and a designated terrorist organization, seized the South Korean-flagged tanker Hankuk Chemi in the Persian Gulf on Monday.

A senior Iranian military commander warned Sunday that U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers in the Persian Gulf will meet a “crushing and fiery response” if they dare to venture near Iran airspace.

A pair of U.S. B-52H Stratofortresses flew a show-of-force mission across the Persian Gulf on Thursday in a display intended to deter attacks from Iran. The bombers were joined by fighter escorts from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.

An Iranian officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday claimed that U.S. troops would fail “to leave the Persian Gulf safely if war breaks out in the region.”

Iran on Thursday said it had seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE) vessel after two Iranian fishermen were allegedly shot dead by the UAE coast guard in the Persian Gulf on Monday.

After a giddy 12 months that heralded a rise in domestic speedboat production, the enhanced ability to attack mock wooden aircraft carriers and a failed missile test that resulted in the surprise “martyrdom” of 12 of its own sailors, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani claimed Thursday the country has raced up global defense power rankings from number 23 to 14.

A wooden replica U.S. aircraft carrier attacked by Iran last month as part of a propaganda exercise appears to have capsized in the Strait of Hormuz, blocking a key shipping channel in the process.