US Navy sends guided-missile submarine to Middle East

USS Florida sent to support Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain

The guided-missile submarine USS Florida moves through the Suez Canal in Egypt, on its way to support the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet, on Friday. Reuters

The US Navy said on Saturday that a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine was operating in the Middle East in support of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet.

The USS Florida entered the region on Thursday and began travelling the Suez Canal, Commander Timothy Hawkins said.

“It is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and is deployed to US Fifth Fleet to help ensure regional maritime security and stability,” Cmdr Hawkins said.

The US Fifth Fleet is a member of several international partnerships, such as the 10-member International Maritime Security Construct, which includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others.

The Fifth Fleet patrols the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20 per cent of the world's oil is transported. Its region includes the Bab Al Mandeb Strait off Yemen and the Red Sea stretching up to the Suez Canal, the Egyptian waterway linking the Middle East to the Mediterranean Sea.

The US, UK and Israel have accused Iran of targeting oil tankers and commercial ships in the Gulf region in recent years, allegations denied by Tehran. The US Navy has also reported a series of tense encounters at sea with Iranian forces that it said were being recklessly aggressive.

Last month, the US launched air strikes against Iran-backed forces in Syria after a rocket attack killed a US contractor and wounded seven other Americans in that country's north-east.

Tension has soared since former president Donald Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 agreement with world powers that provided sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing its nuclear activities and placing them under enhanced surveillance.

Efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to restore the agreement hit a wall last year. The tension has worsened as Tehran has supplied attack drones to Russian forces in Ukraine — and as Israel and Iran have escalated their years-long shadow war in the Middle East.

In addition to drawing closer to Moscow, Tehran has sought improved relations with China, which brokered an agreement last month to restore diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

With reporting from agencies