Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3028130/donald-trump-wants-send-55-ship-international
World/ United States & Canada

Donald Trump wants to send a 55-ship international flotilla to the Persian Gulf to keep an eye on Iran

  • The US presented its new surveillance plan to allies and partner countries in a meeting aboard a British naval ship in Bahrain on Monday, a source revealed
The American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to form an international maritime surveillance mission involving 55 vessels in a key waterway off Iran in November, a source familiar with the plan said on Thursday.

The plan came to light amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran following recent attacks on major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, an incident Washington has blamed on Tehran.

But the administration is likely to face difficulties in implementing the plan because only four countries – Australia, Bahrain, Britain and Saudi Arabia – initially agreed to join Operation Sentinel, a US-led coalition aimed at ensuring safety in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates also announced it would be joining the US-led force “in order to secure the flow of energy supplies to the global economy and contribute to maintaining international peace and security”.

Fire and smoke billows from a tanker said to have been attacked in waters off Iran in June. Photo: AFP
Fire and smoke billows from a tanker said to have been attacked in waters off Iran in June. Photo: AFP

The US has also lobbied other countries to join the coalition to increase pressure on Iran, but Japan has expressed reservations about taking part.

According to the source, the US presented the surveillance plan to allies and partner countries in a meeting on Monday in Bahrain.

Representatives from 28 countries attended the meeting aboard a British naval ship, with Japan believed to have taken part.

France and Germany, key US allies, did not take part in the meeting in an apparent effort to maintain a distance from Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mines aboard an Iranian ship are inspected by US forces in this 1987 file photo. Photo: AP
Mines aboard an Iranian ship are inspected by US forces in this 1987 file photo. Photo: AP

Japan has refrained from making a decision on the US initiative, partly because it does not want to damage its traditionally friendly relations with Iran.

Sending its Self-Defence Forces overseas is a sensitive issue, as entanglement in a foreign conflict could violate the country’s war-renouncing constitution.

Stability and safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz is vital for the country, however, as it relies on the Middle East for 90 per cent of its crude oil.

In Monday’s meeting, Finland, Kuwait and Latvia said they were considering sending personnel to the US coalition headquarters in Bahrain, according to the source.

The US launched Operation Sentinel after two oil tankers, including one operated by a Japanese company, were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz in June.

Washington has put the blame on Tehran, which has denied responsibility.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse