US turns up heat ahead of Iran deadline

The United States and its allies are ratcheting up their military presence in the Persian Gulf as the final weeks wind down before the deadline for a framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

Earlier this week, U.S. Central Command — which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East — announced that 3,000 U.S. forces would conduct a major exercise in Kuwait and its territorial waters right across from Iran from March 8 to March 31. U.S. troops will be joined on the exercise by forces from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. 

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — some of whom see Iran as an adversary.

The dates of the military exercise sandwich the framework-agreement deadline of March 24.

{mosads}In recent weeks, France has also sent an aircraft carrier, the Charles De Gaulle, to the Gulf, where it has joined the USS Carl Vinson, already on patrol there. The French carrier is under U.S. operational command for the first time in the carrier’s history.

The French action in effect brings the U.S. back up to the two-carrier strength seen in the Gulf at the start of this decade. Pentagon policy back in 2010 called for having two U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf to deter Iran from aggression. However, due to the defense budget cuts known as sequestration, that policy was dropped in 2013.

American authorities say that neither the military operation nor the presence of two aircraft carriers are part of any attempt to intimidate Iran. But many observers believe that, at the least, the U.S. is turning up the heat.

U.S. and French military officials say the purpose of the two carriers in the Gulf is to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 

But former Navy officials say the presence of two carriers, right as the deadline to reach agreement nears, is hardly a coincidence. 

“There’s always some strategic message going on there,” said Christopher Harmer, a retired naval aviator and senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. Harmer served in the region as the Navy’s deputy director of future operations from 2008 to 2009. 

“Because of sequestration, we’re only able to have one aircraft carrier there. The message that we are trying to send is, ‘Even though we’ve only got one U.S. aircraft carrier [there], we also have allies such as the French who are willing to support us with an aircraft carrier,'” he said. 

The message is not lost on Iran. Days after the Charles de Gaulle arrived in the Gulf, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard staged war games in the Strait of Hormuz in which they attacked a mock U.S. aircraft carrier and laid mines in the Strait. 

The two aircraft carrier policy was ordered by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2010 in part to ensure U.S. access to the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iran has threatened to block the strait, through which 30 percent of all seaborne traded oil flows, in response to any military attack over its nuclear program. 

As for March’s military exercise, Centcom said in a fact-sheet that it was “an excellent opportunity to improve our ability to partner with Gulf and international forces at the operational level and identify best practices in countering asymmetric threats.” 

Navy officials said the exercise was not timed to coincide with the Iran negotiations and the fact-sheet states that planning for the exercise began in January 2014. However, the last time the exercise was held was in 2013. This year’s exercise is expected to be the “biggest to date” since it first began in 1999. 

“When we do these high profile military exercises, it’s intended to show the Iranians and reinforce in their minds, you guys cannot compete with the West, you cannot compete with the U.S., with NATO, with whoever else is on our side, so don’t even think about it,” Harmer said. 

Retired Navy Vice Adm. Peter Daly, CEO of the United States Naval Institute, said the Navy’s presence in the Gulf had less to do with the talks with Iran than reassuring the GCC countries. 

“Gulf states on the other side of the Gulf want us there,” Daly said. “They like the idea that the U.S. Navy is between them [and Iran].” 

Administration officials in recent weeks have also said that despite any deal reached, they would continue to keep an eye on Iran’s activities in the region, such as its growing involvement in Iraq, its support for the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, and its support for Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. 

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the Navy’s top military leader, told reporters earlier this week that having a presence in the Gulf “is a deterrent.” 

“It’s the ability to react quickly where it matters, when it matters. And it sends the symbol of our nation’s commitment to keep the sea line of communication open to the Strait of Hormuz.”