United States Fifth Fleet

July 10, 2024 | Max Lesser |

Navy should hit back harder against Houthi online disinformation

Last month, Capt. Christopher “Chowdah” Hill, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, invited journalists to inspect the flight deck of his carrier while it...

February 17, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iran pushes threats from Yemen to Lebanon

The overall context then is that the Houthis and Hezbollah are both vowing to step up attacks, despite the fact they have faced opposition from the US and Israel respectively.

January 23, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

US, allies’ strikes on Houthis show West means business in Red Sea

What this means is that the strikes against Yemen, of which there have been several over the past month, have now entered a new phase.

October 20, 2023 | |

U.S. Navy Shoots Down Missiles and Drones Launched From Yemen

The U.S. Navy shot down a salvo of cruise missiles and drones launched from Yemen in the direction of Israel on October 20, suggesting the Houthis are rallying to Hamas in the Gaza...

July 20, 2023 | |

U.S. Boosts Middle East Combat Power to Deter Iranian Maritime Aggression 

To counter Iranian attempts “to threaten the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and its surrounding waters,” the Department of Defense announced on July 20 the deployment of a portion...

June 7, 2023 | |

Iran Hijacking Attempt Thwarted by U.S. and British Navies

The U.S. Navy and the UK Royal Navy aided a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on June 4 being harassed by fast-attack vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN). The U.S. Navy’s...

May 24, 2023 | |

U.S. Navy Increases Patrols in Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. Navy is increasing its patrols of the Strait of Hormuz in response to Iran’s growing threat to commercial shipping and its seizure of two oil tankers during the last two...

May 4, 2023 | |

Iran Seizes Second Tanker Within Week

Iranian forces seized a Panamanian-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on May 3, just six days after taking another vessel sailing toward the United States. The empty tanker Niovi...

April 27, 2023 | |

Iran Seizes U.S.-Bound Oil Tanker

Iranian naval forces seized a Marshall Island-flagged oil tanker traveling through international waters in the Gulf of Oman on April 27. The tanker, Advantage Sweet, was transporting...

April 11, 2023 | |

U.S. Sends Submarine to Middle East to Counter Iranian Threats to Maritime Trade

The American nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine USS Florida arrived in the Middle East and now operates under the command of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, signaling to the regime in Tehran that the United States will not tolerate Iranian activities targeting its troops and shipping, or those of its allies.

November 17, 2022 | Ryan Brobst, Bradley Bowman

A win against Iranian arms smuggling to Yemen

The U.S. Navy announced on Tuesday that it has seized 70 tons of a missile fuel component and 100 tons of an explosive precursor. The items were being smuggled on a ship traveling from Iran to Yemen....

September 30, 2022 | |

U.S., Israeli Navies Conduct Exercise as Iran Steps up Maritime Aggression

The naval forces of the United States and Israel conducted a four-day bilateral training exercise, dubbed Digital Shield, this month in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. The joint exercise comes in the wake of Iran’s attempts to seize American unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in both the Red Sea and Persian Gulf over the past 30 days. The exercise focused on “enhancing maritime awareness using unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in support of vessel boarding operations,” according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. The USVs used in the exercise improve the ability to monitor the malign maritime activities of Tehran and its terror proxies.

May 9, 2022 | Bradley Bowman, Ryan Brobst, RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery

New Mideast task force can counter Iranian arms smuggling, but more capabilities are needed

Eyeing the continued flow of Iranian weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, the Combined Maritime Forces, a naval partnership comprising 34 nations led by U.S. Central Command, established a new multinational...

February 14, 2022 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Bahrain chooses alignment with Israel over submission to Iran

Since the announcement of the Abraham Accords in August 2020, ties between Bahrain and Israel have grown steadily, reaching a milestone last week when an Israeli military aircraft, carrying Defense Minister...

November 21, 2019 | Bradley Bowman, Andrew Gabel, Mikhael Smits 

U.S. Carrier Strike Group Transits Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. Navy’s Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) transited through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, entering the Persian Gulf following months of Iranian attacks in the area. The high-profile...

December 12, 2018 | Clifford D. May |

Punishing the Saudi prince

Ceding Yemen to Iran’s ruling ayatollahs is not the way to do it.

March 22, 2017 | Tzvi Kahn, David Andrew Weinberg

U.S. Sanctions Bahrainis Linked to Iran-Backed Group

The State Department on Friday designated two Bahrainis with ties to Iran as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, thereby den...

December 15, 2016 | John Cappello

Should the United States Sell Fighter Jets to the Gulf?

The timing and phasing of recent U.S. arms deals in the Middle East underscore the complicated balance for the United States of addressing the concerns and needs of multiple partners in the regio...

July 6, 2016 | Saeed Ghasseminejad |

Iran Stirs Up More Trouble in the Gulf

Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ external operations wing the Quds Force, ...

October 5, 2015 | |

Bahrain and Iran Expel Each Other’s Diplomats

Bahrain announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Iran on Thursday and ordere...