Persian Gulf

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.

Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it joined Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom in a US-led maritime coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways amid threats from Iran after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry.

Australia will join the United States and the UK in an international maritime coalition protecting oil tankers and cargo ships from threats posed by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.

The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy and the United States Navy are launching a joint task force to patrol the Strait of Hormuz, weeks after a British vessel was captured by Iranian gunboats in the strategic waterway.

Iran in recent days captured the third foreign tanker in the Persian Gulf in less than a month amid intensifying tensions with the United States, Iranian state media reported over the weekend.

Iran seized another foreign-flagged oil tanker on Sunday morning for allegedly “smuggling fuel” to unspecified Arab states, local state media reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, has fired a shot across the bows of Angela Merkel’s government over its refusal to participate in a mission to protect shipping from Iranian aggression, highlighting how much Americans have sacrificed for the European country.

The Iranian navy on Tuesday rejected “false and incorrect” reports Iran and Russia will hold a joint naval drill in the Persian Gulf within the next few months.

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “familiarity” with Iran will help improve relations between the Islamic Republic and Britain,  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

A Royal Navy warship has arrived in the Persian Gulf ready to accompany British-flagged ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the latest escalation of regional tensions after Iran seized a British tanker this month.

Iran on Sunday slammed as “hostile” a UK push for a European-led naval mission to escort tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, amid heightened tensions over the seizure of foreign-flagged vessels.

Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, a deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said in a speech on Tuesday that his organization is stronger than ever after the U.S. government designated it a foreign terrorist organization.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Tuesday that sanctions will be imposed on China’s Zhuhai Zhenrong Company and chief executive Youmin Li for purchasing Iranian oil in defiance of U.S. sanctions.