Persian Gulf

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.

Iran used tugboats to move a fake wooden aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Sunday as naval tensions between Tehran and the U.S. rise, satellite photographs show.

TEL AVIV — At least seven ships caught fire Wednesday at the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr in Iran which houses Iran’s only nuclear plant, the regime-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported.

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has touted underground “missile cities,” along the Gulf coastline.

Iran has re-built a crude wooden mock-up of a U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carrier at a shipyard alongside its Persian Gulf coast, readying it for the express purpose of being targeted in live-fire drills.

In Qatar and Kuwait, not wearing a sanitary mask could land you in prison, according to new mandates issued by the Persian Gulf states to curb the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, Middle Eastern news site Al-Monitor reported Monday.

Iran shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments about naval confrontation in the contested waters of the Persian Gulf, warning Wednesday a hard slap in the face awaits foreign perpetrators committing even “the merest violation” of the Islamic republic’s territory.

Major General Hossein Salami, top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Thursday he has ordered Iranian military vessels to open fire if they feel threatened by ships from the “terrorist” U.S. Navy. The IRGC is itself a designated terrorist organization.

WASHINGTON — A group of 11 Iranian naval vessels made “dangerous and harassing” maneuvers near U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf near Kuwait on Wednesday, in one case passing within 10 yards (meters) of a Coast Guard cutter, American officials said.

(AFP) — British police said Saturday they were reviewing an investigation into the disappearance of the ruler of Dubai’s daughter after a court found that she had been abducted by her father.

Japan despatched a navy destroyer to the Middle East on Sunday for a rare overseas mission to help ensure the safe passage of shipping transiting the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Bab el-Mandeb.

The United Kingdom defended the actions of the Trump administration in Iran, saying the United States is “entitled to defend itself” against Iranian aggression and deploying the Royal Navy to the Persian Gulf to protect shipping vessels flying the British

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision not to be drawn into military conflict with Iran was attacked by France’s defense minister on Saturday, with Florence Parly lamenting the absence of an American military response in the oil-rich region.

A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, after it was ordered by the White House to rapidly deploy to the Mideast to meet heightened threats from Iran.

A senior official is confirmed to attend a security conference in Bahrain on Monday, a source in the Gulf country told The Times of Israel, in the latest significant sign of warming ties between parts of the Arab world and Israel.

Two missiles struck an Iranian tanker traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Friday, Iranian officials said, the latest incident in the region amid months of heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S.

(AFP) — The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero docked in Dubai on Saturday after sailing from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where it was held for more than two months, according to pool footage and a tracking website.

The presence of foreign naval and land forces creates “insecurity” in the Gulf and they should “stay away”, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, issuing his warning after the U.S. ordered the deployment of more troops to the troubled region.