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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11993049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-special-operations-command" source="Orion">US Special Operations Command</keyword> has earned a reputation as a highly flexible and effective force.</li><li>But SOCOM was only a few months old when it was called into action for the first time.</li></ul><p>Special-operations forces have become US policymakers' go-to choice for contingencies around the world. Special-operations units offer a high-reward, low-risk option who can stay out of the spotlight if necessary.</p><p>Decades of combat experience have made US Special Operations Command a well-oiled machine with a reputation for devastating effectiveness. But that hasn't always been the case.</p><p>In a twist of fate 34 years ago, SOCOM, then new and untested, went to war for the first time, squaring off against the enemy who helped create it.</p><h2>A Phoenix rises</h2><div type="image" title="Operation Eagle Claw Iran hostage crisis" height="1360" width="2048" msid="88677068" hostid="261"></div><p>On April 24, 1980, a special-operations task force composed of US Air Force Air Commandos, US Army Rangers, and the Army's newly established Delta Force went into <keyword id="12062557" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="iran" source="Orion">Iran</keyword> to attempt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-failed-iran-hostage-rescue-raid-influenced-us-special-forces-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the most daring special-operations missions in history</a>.</p><p>A few months prior, Iranian revolutionaries had stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and taken American diplomats hostage. Negotiations with the Iranians were failing, so President Jimmy Carter green-lit Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the hostages.</p><p>Marine Corps and Air Force aviators supported the hodgepodge commando force, but everything fell apart when a helicopter struck a transport aircraft on the ground in Iran. Eight US personnel were killed, and the hostages remained in captivity.</p><div type="image" title="Destroyed US helicopters after Operation Eagle Claw in Iran" height="1407" width="2000" msid="88677069" hostid="261"></div><p>A congressional committee found that the disjointed nature of the operation, which brought together units from across the military, was one of the primary reasons for its failure.</p><p>The committee recommended that the Department of Defense create a dedicated special-operations command. As a result, the Nunn-Cohen Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1987 brought SOCOM to life.</p><p>SOCOM brought together all the US military's special-operations units and added some new ones — such as the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-armys-160-soar-night-stalkers-special-operations-pilots-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">known as the "Night Stalkers."</a></p><p>The organization was only three months old when it was called it into action against a familiar enemy: Iran.</p><h2>A volatile region</h2><div type="image" title="Ships in the Persian Gulf during Iran-Iraq war" height="1309" width="2000" msid="88677070" hostid="261"></div><p>Taking advantage of the instability caused by the Iranian revolution in early 1979, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Army invaded Iran in late 1980, starting a bloody, eight-year war that saw gas attacks, large-scale tank battles, and daring air raids.</p><p>Fighting also spilled into the <keyword id="12874273" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="persian-gulf" source="Orion">Persian Gulf</keyword>, through which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-faces-a-huge-liability-in-countering-irans-use-of-sea-mines-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much of the world's oil supply</a> is shipped.</p><p>Concerned that the war could disrupt that flow, and with prompting by local allies, the White House launched Operation Earnest Will in July 1987, deploying American warships to the Gulf to protect tankers from Iraqi and Iranian attacks.</p><p>But the US special operators played a big part in the overall operation to stop attacks on neutral shipping.</p><h2><keyword id="12874274" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-prime-chance" source="Orion">Operation Prime Chance</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Navy PB Mark III patrol boat in Persian Gulf" height="1331" width="2000" msid="88677071" hostid="261"></div><p>From 1987 to 1989, SOCOM deployed Navy SEALs, Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (SWCC), and Night Stalkers for the command's first large-scale combat operation, Operation Prime Chance.</p><p>Prime Chance was the <a href="https://www.navybook.com/no-higher-honor/timeline/capturing-the-iran-ajr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secret part</a> of Operation Earnest Will, and it gave SOCOM the opportunity to gets its feet wet and test tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as how its units functioned as a team.</p><p>As SOCOM's dedicated maritime special-operations unit, the Navy SEALs were the perfect option to support Operation Prime Chance.</p><p>Rotating SEAL platoons were on standby to conduct <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-special-operations-vbss-daring-way-to-storm-enemy-ships-2021-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) operations</a> against suspected vessels and take down any that presented a threat or were caught laying mines.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-tour-final-test-navy-special-warfare-combatant-craft-crew-2021-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SWCC commandos</a> operating heavily armed special-operations boats were key in intercepting enemy vessels and supporting SEAL platoons during VBSS and direct-action operations.</p><div type="image" title="Navy PB Mark III patrol boat in Persian Gulf" height="1329" width="2000" msid="88677072" hostid="261"></div><p>Night Stalkers supported Operation Prime Chance with several aircraft. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/special-operations-ah6-mh6-helicopters-may-go-out-of-service-2021-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AH-6 Little Bird gunships and MH-6 transport/assault helicopters</a> were staged on US Navy ships and floating sea bases to hunt for Iranian vessels laying mines.</p><p>The MH-6s would buzz over the Persian Gulf searching for Iranian minelayers. When they found one, they would guide in AH-6s for an attack. MH-60 Blackhawks provided overwatch support and were on standby for combat-search-and-rescue operations.</p><p>In addition to large minelaying vessels, US special operators and the Navy had to deal with Iran's fleet of small boats.</p><p>The small but heavily armed boats used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps would swarm slow tankers like hyenas, attacking from all sides with high-explosive rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, and machine guns.</p><p>The small boats could also lay mines. The Iranians used their oil platforms as observation posts to notify their small boats of potential targets.</p><div type="image" title="Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1547" width="2000" msid="88677073" hostid="261"></div><p>One of the most important encounters during Operations Prime Chance took place on September 21, 1987. US Navy ships were tracking the Iran Ajr, a minelayer suspected of laying mines in the Gulf.</p><p>When MH-6 Little Birds spotted the Iranian vessels dropping mines into the sea, they called in the waiting AH-6s. The gunships made several runs against the ship with their mini-guns and rockets, inflicting serious damage.</p><p>A Navy SEAL platoon that was standing by came in after the AH-6s and boarded the Iranian vessel, capturing the crew members who were still on board. After a thorough search, the SEALs scuttled the vessel with explosives.</p><p>Mines aboard the Iran Ajr <a href="https://www.navybook.com/no-higher-honor/timeline/capturing-the-iran-ajr/" target="_top">matched</a> those on unexploded mines recovered after USS Samuel B. Roberts, a US Navy frigate, <a href="https://news.usni.org/2015/05/22/the-day-frigate-samuel-b-roberts-was-mined" target="_top">struck</a> a mine and almost sank in April 1988. (US ships also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/missile-attack-on-uss-stark-by-iraqi-plane-2018-12" target="_top">faced attack from Iraqis</a>.) After connecting Iran to the attack on the frigate, the US responded in force just a few days later.</p><p><keyword id="12874275" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-praying-mantis" source="Orion">Operation Praying Mantis</keyword> saw a US Navy task force attack the Iranian Navy, sinking three surface vessels, crippling another one, and destroying two oil platforms. It was the US Navy's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-shows-destruction-of-potential-us-iran-war-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest naval engagement since World War II</a>.</p><p><em>Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.</em></p>

A 1980s showdown with Iran was US Special Operations Command's first test in combat

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Thirty-three years ago, the US inflicted a devastating defeat on the <keyword id="886961" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iranian-navy">Iranian navy</keyword>.</li><li>Since then, <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> has rebuilt and modernized its fleet, equipping it for operations on the high seas.</li><li>Its progress was visible in June, when two Iranian warships sailed into the Atlantic for the first time.</li></ul><p>In June, two important events vaulted Iran's navy into <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> headlines.</p><p>The first was the <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/06/03/loss-of-iranian-navy-ship-mutes-tehrans-global-ambitions-3rd-warship-lost-since-2018" target="_top">sinking</a> of the IRIS Kharg in the <keyword id="386457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Persian-Gulf">Persian Gulf</keyword> on June 2. Kharg, a British-built Ol-class replenishment tanker, was the Iranian navy's flagship and one of its most important vessels.</p><p>The second important development was the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/04/iran-warships-atlantic-crossing-weapons-transfers-491898" target="_top">rounding of the Cape of Good Hope</a> by two Iranian warships, the seabase ship IRINS Makran and the frigate IRIS Sahand, on June 4.</p><p>Makran, a converted oil tanker, is Iran's largest vessel, while Sahand is one of its newest and most advanced warships. They are the first Iranian naval vessels to sail into the Atlantic, a long-sought achievement.</p><p>These are the latest signs of progress for Iran's navy, which has been modernizing with the goal of being able to operate across oceans. Now, 33 years after a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-shows-destruction-of-potential-us-iran-war-2021-4" target="_top">devastating defeat</a> by the US, that navy is showing what it can do.</p><h2>An unrealized plan</h2><div type="image" title="RTR39T0U" height="2232" width="3500" msid="84474339" hostid="261"></div><p>Officially known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, or IRIN, Iran's navy is largely the result of an incomplete plan to turn its predecessor, the Imperial Iranian Navy, into a first-rate force.</p><p>Before his overthrow in 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi invested heavily in US and European warships, intending to make Iran the region's dominant maritime power. The shah hoped to support NATO operations in the Indian Ocean and wanted the alliance to establish a naval headquarters at Bandar Abbas.</p><p>The buying spree included four British-made Alvand-class frigates, 12 French-made La Combattante IIa-class fast-attack craft, and four US-made Bayandor-class corvettes.</p><p>The shah even considered buying a number of Invincible-class aircraft carriers and Sea Harriers from Britain and wanted to build a naval base at Chabahar capable of hosting US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, but those plans were cut short by the 1979 revolution.</p><p>The new Islamic Republic eventually received some vessels that had already been paid for, like the Kharg. Other orders, including those for four specially designed Spruance-class destroyers from the US and multiple submarines, were canceled.</p><p>The IRIN's leadership was also purged by Iran's new authorities and then immediately thrust into the Iran-Iraq War, during which the navy took heavy losses.</p><p>In 1988, the IRIN lost two warships sunk, one heavily damaged, and dozens of sailors killed in a clash with the US Navy, known as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-shows-destruction-of-potential-us-iran-war-2021-4" target="_top">Operation Praying Mantis</a>.</p><h2>Homegrown warships</h2><div type="image" title="Iran navy Sahand Praying Mantis" height="1460" width="2000" msid="84474341" hostid="261"></div><p>After the war, the IRIN recognized that it needed to modernize.</p><p>"Praying Mantis was a turning point because it showed how the IRIN's conventional naval assets were vulnerable to the US," Farzin Nadimi, an expert on Iranian defense affairs with The Washington Institute, told Insider.</p><p>Iran acquired some foreign vessels, including three Russian-made Kilo-class attack submarines and several North Korean mini-subs and torpedo boats, but its nuclear program led to increased sanctions and foreign efforts to block its purchases of military hardware.</p><p>"With all the sanctions as a result of their nuclear ambitions, Iran never managed to rebuild its navy quite substantially," Nadimi said. "So, gradually, Iran embarked on this project of making their own warships."</p><p>Despite its industrial limitations, Iran has built a number of domestically designed vessels, including four <a href="https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/jamaranmowjclassmult/" target="_top">Mowj-class frigates</a>, five <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/kaman.htm" target="_top">Sina-class fast-attack craft</a>, and at least one <a href="http://www.hisutton.com/Fateh-Class_Submarine.html" target="_top">Fateh-class submarine</a>.</p><p>The four Mowj-class frigates, which include Sahand, are the IRIN's most advanced warships. They have phased-array radars and carry domestically made anti-ship missiles with a 124-mile range.</p><p>The IRIN has still faced setbacks. In addition to Kharg, Iran has lost two ships in the last three years, one of which was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52612511" target="_top">accidentally hit</a> by a friendly anti-ship missile in 2020, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 more.</p><h2>Newer fleet, newer mission</h2><div type="image" title="Coast Guard Monomoy Persian Gulf Iran" height="450" width="800" msid="84474342" hostid="261"></div><p>New vessels were not the only changes. Iran's leaders, believing that <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/irans-evolving-approach-asymmetric-naval-warfare-strategy-and-capabilities-persian" target="_top">asymmetric warfare</a> was the best way to secure Iranian waters, shifted the IRIN's role in 2008.</p><p>The IRIN is now responsible for the Gulf of Oman and waters beyond Iran, while the Persian Gulf is guarded almost exclusively by the <keyword id="776689" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Islamic-Revolutionary-Guard-Corps">Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps</keyword> Navy, known as the IRGCN.</p><p>Created in 1985, the IRGCN fleet is mostly composed of armed speedboats, small missile boats, and patrol craft. It is frequently involved in provocations in the Persian Gulf. IRGCN vessels <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iranian-ships-swarmed-us-coast-guard-vessels-for-hours-2021-4" target="_top">harassed</a> US ships <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnW3SZMjaIs" target="_top">several times</a> this spring, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiHWydB-1Tw" target="_top">a May incident</a> that led a US Navy ship to fire warning shots at the Iranians.</p><p>While the IRIN and IRGCN do share responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz, they do not have a history of cooperation.</p><p>"The IRGCN is completely different organizationally and ideologically" and is "amongst the most religious and loyal" groups even within the larger Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Nadimi said.</p><p>The IRGCN's <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/06/17/analyzing-irans-claimed-112-new-naval-vessels/?sh=772beb2d7d48" target="_top">expansion</a>, which includes <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top">new </a><a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top">advanced</a><a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top"> vessels</a>, has largely come at the IRIN's expense.</p><p>The IRGC itself tends to get two to three times more funding than Iran's military. Combined the IRGCN's reputation for being more aggressive, that imbalance has led to tension between the two branches.</p><p>"There have been decades of coexistence between the two, but they have never had any major joint exercises, and that is very telling," Nadimi said. "They don't have any joint training, and they don't have any coordination at the command levels. They even have separate naval academies."</p><p>While the IRIN and IRGCN will fight together in a conflict, that lack of a real relationship leads many to believe they will not be as effective.</p><h2>Blue-water ambitions</h2><div type="image" title="The new Iranian destroyer Sahand sails in Persian Gulf waters, in Bandar Abbas, Iran, December 1, 2018." height="1868" width="2800" msid="84474343" hostid="261"></div><p>The IRIN, meanwhile, has ambitions for blue-water operations. It's already <a href="https://www.ions.global/ions-working-groups" target="_top">a player</a> in the Indian Ocean and the recent trip into the Atlantic may have had multiple objectives.</p><p>US officials reportedly suspected that the Makran and Sahand were headed west for Cuba or Venezuela, potentially to deliver fuel and weapons. They continued sailing north, however, and their final destination is unknown, though it is believed to be Syria or Russia.</p><p>Using the IRIN to deliver fuel and weapons may seem odd, but it benefits Iran. Official naval vessels <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/legality-and-policy-ramifications-high-seas-seizures-foreign-merchant-vessels-violating-us-sanctions" target="_top">cannot be boarded and searched</a> like <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-middle-east-iran-iran-nuclear-global-trade-826ea21eb3d9f9fed3681b0ae6b4aa3a" target="_top">regular</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-middle-east-iran-iran-nuclear-global-trade-826ea21eb3d9f9fed3681b0ae6b4aa3a" target="_top"> tankers</a>, allowing Iran to avoid sanctions.</p><p>Despite its recent losses, the IRIN is pressing ahead with its modernization and <a href="http://www.hisutton.com/Iranian-Navy-Mowj-Class.html" target="_top">expansion</a>. Iran has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/04/04/iranian-navy-building-new-submarines-and-a-6000-ton-destroyer/?sh=1d5e9df97e9f" target="_top">plans</a> for new larger submarines and destroyers, including an ambitious <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2019/12/05/future-iranian-stealth-warship-looks-a-lot-like-us-navy-lcs/?sh=3c928c5a287e" target="_top">trimaran design</a>.</p><p>Now that the UN arms embargo has ended, Iran is <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iran-and-china-are-strengthening-their-military-ties" target="_top">looking to China and Russia</a> for help in developing its shipyards and fleet. It may buy ships from China and Russia or use Chinese and Russian designs and technology transfers to build vessels on its own.</p><p>"If there aren't going to be any future sanctions, we will see more of the IRIN in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic, and even the Pacific," Nadimi said.</p>

33 years after getting demolished by the US, Iran's navy is flexing its new muscles

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In April 1988, the US attacked <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword> in the <keyword id="386457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Persian-Gulf">Persian Gulf</keyword> in retaliation for the mining of a US ship.</li><li><keyword id="11146575" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-praying-mantis">Operation Praying Mantis</keyword>, the largest US naval action since World War II, was brief but deadly.</li><li>Thirty-three years later, the weapons each side would use have only gotten more destructive.</li></ul><p>Just before 8:00 a.m. on April 18, 1988, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) stationed on the Sassan and Sirri oil platforms in the Persian Gulf received a warning from US Navy ships several thousand yards away.</p><p>"You have five minutes to abandon the platform. I intend to destroy it at 0800," the warning said.</p><p>Some Iranians boarded ships and fled, but others began manning gun emplacements. Shortly after 8:00 a.m., the platforms were hit with barrages of gunfire from US destroyers, frigates, and a guided-missile cruiser.</p><p>They were the opening shots of <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1989/may/surface-view-operation-praying-mantis" target="_top">Operation Praying Mantis</a>, retaliation for Iran's mining of the Persian Gulf, which had damaged the guided-missile frigate <keyword id="11146574" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uss-samuel-b-roberts">USS Samuel B. Roberts</keyword> days earlier.</p><p>It would be the US's largest naval action since World War II and the first time warships engaged one another with anti-ship missiles.</p><h2>A tense Gulf</h2><div type="image" title="Navy helicopter tanker war" height="1333" width="2000" msid="82216301" hostid="261"></div><p>Tensions were extremely high in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. Iran had been fighting a brutal war with Iraq since September 1980, and although Iran reclaimed territory lost early in the war, by 1983 it was a stalemate.</p><p>In 1984, Iraq began attacking Iranian oil tankers and facilities in an attempt to damage Iran's economy. Iran responded in kind, and eventually foreign vessels became targets in what is known as the <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-018/h-018-1.html" target="_top">Tanker War</a>.</p><p>Iran was particularly aggressive, as Iraq was receiving financial and material support from other Gulf States, namely Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.</p><p>The IRGCN's swarms of Boghammers and other small, armed fast-attack boats, along with sea mines and attacks from Iranian Navy frigates, were taking their toll. (By the end of the war, Iran had <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/3423" target="_top">attacked</a> some 190 ships from 31 countries, killing at least 63 sailors.)</p><p>At the request of Kuwait, the US Navy began escorting tankers, reflagged as American ships, through the Gulf. Unwilling to attack the US Navy directly, the IRGCN increased its mine-laying.</p><p>The US Navy tried to stop these efforts with a number of actions.</p><p>On September 21, 1987, the Navy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/23/world/26-iranians-seized-with-mine-vessel-more-us-shooting.html" target="_top">forcibly seized</a> the Iranian minelayer Iran Ajr while it was on a mission, killing five and capturing 26 sailors and 10 mines. In two engagements the following month, the Navy <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-09-mn-8588-story.html" target="_top">sank three</a> IRGCN boats and <a href="https://www.navybook.com/no-higher-honor/timeline/operation-nimble-archer/" target="_top">destroyed</a> two oil platforms used as IRGCN bases.</p><h2>A military response</h2><div type="image" title="Navy Samuel B. Roberts Iran mine Persian Gulf" height="1301" width="2000" msid="82216308" hostid="261"></div><p>But the Iranians continued laying mines, and on April 14, 1988, the guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck one. Ten sailors were injured, four with serious burns. The blast left a 15-foot hole in the hull and broke the keel of the warship.</p><p>Serial numbers from nearby unexploded mines matched those on mines captured aboard Iran Ajr. With this evidence, President Ronald Reagan ordered a military response, which was carried out by three Navy Surface Action Groups (SAGs) named Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.</p><p>Bravo, with two destroyers and an amphibious transport dock and four Sea Cobra and two UH-1 Iroquois attack helicopters, would attack the Sassan platform.</p><p>Charlie, with two frigates and a guided-missile cruiser, would attack the Sirri platform.</p><p>Delta, with a frigate and two destroyers, was tasked with sinking the Iranian frigate Sabalan - which was known for particularly aggressive attacks - or any other Iranian frigate it could find.</p><p>SAG Bravo and SAG Charlie would land a team of Marines and Navy SEALs on Sassan and Sirri, respectively, who would clear the platforms and collect anything of value before destroying them.</p><p>The ships of SAG Delta would operate in the Strait of Hormuz, waiting for Iranian frigates to leave Bandar Abbas naval base. They were supported by <a href="https://www.navyhistory.org/2017/04/operation-praying-mantis-an-enterprise-combat-mission/" target="_top">aircraft from the carrier USS Enterprise</a>, which was sailing in the Gulf of Oman.</p><h2>Operation Praying Mantis</h2><div type="image" title="Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1547" width="2000" msid="82216312" hostid="261"></div><p>At 8:04 a.m., SAG Bravo's ships opened fire on Sassan. Fifty airburst rounds from their 5-inch guns tore into the platform, and a ZSU-23 anti-aircraft was destroyed almost immediately after it tried to return fire. The US ships ceased fire to let more Iranians evacuate, then opened fire again with naval guns and from helicopters.</p><p>At 9:25 a.m., a team of Marines fast-roped onto the platform, securing it within 30 minutes. Two hours later they evacuated, destroying the platform with over 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives detonated remotely.</p><p>SAG Charlie opened fire on Sirri at 8:15 a.m. after its warning was sent and some Iranians evacuated. The platform erupted in flames, incinerating the remaining defenders. The fire was so intense that the SEAL Team landing was called off.</p><p>About three hours later, IRIS Joshan, an Iranian patrol vessel, approached SAG Charlie. Joshan ignored repeated warnings, the last of which said "Stop and abandon ship. I intend to sink you." The Iranian ship fired a single Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was defeated by US countermeasures.</p><div type="image" title="Marine Corps Marines Zu-23 Iran Sassan Praying Mantis" height="1329" width="2000" msid="82216315" hostid="261"></div><p>Joshan was then hit by five missiles from SAG Charlie, destroying it in what was the first missile duel between warships. Joshan's burnt hulk was then sunk by US gunfire. An Iranian F-4 fighter jet approached but withdrew after it was hit by an anti-aircraft missile from USS Wainwright.</p><p>SAG Delta, meanwhile, was looking for the IRIS Sabalan. Five IRGCN Boghammers had attacked the Mubarak offshore oil field in retaliation, damaging some tankers and drilling rigs. In response, aircraft from Enterprise, using coordinates from SAG Delta, attacked the boats, sinking one and damaging the other four.</p><p>IRIS Sahan, another Iranian frigate, was then detected heading toward Mubarak. After firing at Enterprise's aircraft, it was torn to shreds by bombs and missiles from A-6 attack aircraft and the guided-missile destroyer USS Joseph Strauss. Sahan sank later that night.</p><p>IRIS Sabalan finally showed up two hours later and was hit by a single 500-pound bomb that went directly into its smoke stack, seriously damaging it and bringing it to a halt.</p><p>SAG Delta requested permission to finish Sabalan off, but the Navy decided to de-escalate and allowed it to be towed back to Iran.</p><h2>A different future</h2><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Four Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels, some of several to maneuver in what the U.S. Navy says are &quot;unsafe and unprofessional actions against U.S. Military ships by crossing the ships’ bows and sterns at close range&quot; is seen next to the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton in the Gulf April 15, 2020. U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS " height="1125" width="1688" msid="82216316" hostid="261"></div><p>By the end of the day, the Navy had destroyed two IRGCN bases, sunk three Iranian vessels, and seriously damaged five more, killing over 50 IRGCN and Iranian Navy personnel in the process.</p><p>American casualties were one SeaCobra and its two-man crew, who crashed while on a reconnaissance mission.</p><p>Operation Praying Mantis provides a glimpse of what a future naval conflict with Iran in the Persian Gulf could look like.</p><p>The use of small armed speedboats to attack critical oil infrastructure and tankers, the fortification of offshore oil platforms, the mining of important trading lanes, and the use of Iranian Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman are widely expected to be the primary tactics.</p><p>But a future conflict is unlikely to go as smoothly for the US as Operation Praying Mantis did, mainly due to Iran's <a href="https://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/Military%20Power%20Publications/Iran_Military_Power_LR.pdf" target="_top">military modernization and expansion</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Iran mockup aircraft carrier Bandar Abbas" height="1660" width="2500" msid="82216318" hostid="261"></div><p>Iran's Navy has gotten larger and more capable, with more vessels able to launch anti-ship missiles and at least three Russian-built Kilo-class attack submarines in service.</p><p>Last year, an Iranian Navy exercise included an attack on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-aircraft-carrier-shows-iranian-plans-to-fight-us-2020-7" target="_top">a barge designed to look like a US aircraft carrier</a>. In January, Iran <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/38673/iran-commissions-its-massive-oil-tanker-turned-sea-base-into-service" target="_top">unveiled the Makran</a>, a "forward base ship" capable of carrying drones and helicopters.</p><p>The IRGCN has also been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/06/17/analyzing-irans-claimed-112-new-naval-vessels/?sh=47d52c677d48" target="_top">expanding</a> its numbers and capabilities, including recent reports that it is <a href="https://news.usni.org/2021/03/29/irans-new-missile-corvette-could-reshape-irgc-naval-doctrine" target="_top">building large missile-laden catamarans</a>.</p><p>Iran's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-faces-a-huge-liability-in-countering-irans-use-of-sea-mines-2018-8" target="_top">sea mines remain potent</a>, but the biggest threat comes from <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/iran/" target="_top">Iran's missile arsenal</a>, which is considerably larger and more advanced than it was in the 1980s.</p><p>In recent years, Iranian missiles have been used to <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2021/03/saudi-air-defense-stops-most-houthi-strikes/" target="_top">attack</a> Saudi oil facilities and civilian sites, as well as <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5448/images-show-a-badly-damaged-hsv-2-swift-following-attack-off-yemeni-coast" target="_top">ships</a>. In January 2020, Iranian cruise missiles <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGP7hZQuTL0" target="_top">hit US bases in Iraq</a>, injuring over 100 service members.</p><p>Iran's missiles failed to hit their targets during Operation Praying Mantis, but things could be very different in the future.</p>

A deadly fight 33 years ago shows just how destructive a war between the US and Iran could get

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Iranian frigate capsized while undergoing repairs at Bandar Abbas, a coastal city on the Strait of Hormuz.</li><li>State media reported that it took on water and lost balance because of a "technical failure."</li></ul><p>Several people were admitted to hospital after an Iranian warship capsized at the port city of Bandar Abbas on Sunday, Iran's state media reported.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-iran-navy-launches-stealth-warship-in-the-gulf-2018-12">Sahand</a>, a domestically produced Moudge-class frigate, was undergoing repairs when it lost balance and partially sank, the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.mehrnews.com/news/217433/Incident-reported-to-Iran-s-Sahand-destroyer-in-Persian-Gulf">Mehr News Agency</a> reported.</p><p>The mishap was because of a "technical failure," the report said.</p><p>A separate report several hours later by the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.irna.ir/news/85532586/Iran-s-frigate-Sahand-experiences-accident-in-Bandar-Abbas">Islamic Republic News Agency</a> cited the country's military saying water had leaked into the Sahand's tanks, causing the vessel to turn over.</p><p>The military added in IRNA's report that the ship had since "returned to balance." Both news agencies are owned by the Iranian government, which described the vessel as a "destroyer."</p><p>Photos released by the agencies show the Sahand floating on its side next to several docked merchant ships. Other images on social media appear to show the vessel tipping over.</p> <p>The lasting damage sustained by the vessel isn't immediately clear.</p><p>The Sahand was launched in 2018 and is named after another Iranian ship that was destroyed by the US in 1988's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-risks-of-us-iran-conflict-persian-gulf-2023-8">Operation Praying Mantis</a>.</p><p>The original vessel was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/middle-east/praying-mantis.html">one of two Iranian naval ships sunk</a> by the US Navy in retaliation for the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a guided-missile frigate.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://en.mehrnews.com/news/140067/Sahand-destroyer-joins-Iran-s-naval-fleet">Iranian media reported</a> that the new Sahand was equipped with torpedoes, anti-air munitions, cruise missiles, a point-defense system, and close-range weapons that could fire up to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/12/01/1888109/sahand-destroyer-joins-iran-navy-fleet">7,000 rounds a minute.</a></p><p>Its capsizing on Sunday is the latest in a string of mishaps for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/irans-navy-flexes-new-muscles-years-after-fight-with-us-2021-7">Iran's navy</a> in recent years, including a 2020 friendly-fire incident involving a ship of a similar class.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/11/iranian-navy-ship-hit-by-missile-in-fatal-friendly-fire-incident-in-gulf">Iranian frigate Jamaran</a> was testing an anti-ship missile when it struck the support vessel Konarak in the Gulf of Oman, killing 19 sailors and injuring another 15.</p><p>In late 2021, another Moudge-class frigate, the Talayieh, was <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/mhmiranusa/status/1467611335479410691">videoed capsizing</a> at a flooded dry dock in Bandar Abbas.</p><p>In June of that year,<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57328399"> the Kharg</a>, one of Iran's largest naval vessels, caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman after firefighters tried for 20 hours to save the ship. It had embarked on a training mission at the time, local media reported.</p><p>Another Moudge-class frigate, <a target="_blank" href="https://news.usni.org/2021/06/03/loss-of-iranian-navy-ship-mutes-tehrans-global-ambitions-3rd-warship-lost-since-2018">the Damavand</a>, ran aground in 2018 and was damaged beyond repair. It had been launched just three years prior.</p><p>In a <a target="_blank" href="https://fa.alalam.ir/news/6897748/%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%DB%8C%D9%87-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B7-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%88%D9%85%DB%8C-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D9%87-%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%85-%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%87-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%87-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%88-%D8%B3%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF-">Sunday report covering the Sahand's capsizing</a>, the Iranian state media channel Al-Alalam noted that the US also suffered a near-capsizing in 2022 involving a ship named The Sullivans.</p><p>But The Sullivans is a museum ship that served in World War II and the Korean War and was retired in 1965.</p><p>It partially sank in April 2022 because of a hull breach, but it was repaired and reopened for visits in August 2022.</p>

An Iranian frigate was seen capsizing at port while next to merchant ships, another black mark for the country's record of naval mishaps

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US military is sending forces to the Persian Gulf in response to Iran's seizure of oil tankers.</li><li>The deployments have been compared to a US operation in 1987-1988 to defend tankers from Iranian attacks.</li></ul><p>Tensions are rising in the Persian Gulf, where the US is deploying additional air and naval forces to deter Iranian seizures of commercial tanker ships.</p><p>The deployment has led to renewed fears of conflict between the US and Iran, <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/08/07/the-new-tanker-war-and-us-military-escalation-in-the-persian-gulf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drawing comparisons</a> to another clash 35 years ago that was a decisive victory for the US and a devastating defeat for Iran.</p><p>In late April, as part of its sanctions-enforcement effort, the US confiscated a tanker loaded with Iranian oil bound for China. Days later, Iran responded by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-confiscates-iran-oil-cargo-tanker-amid-tehran-tensions-sources-2023-04-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seizing</a> a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker. In July, the US Navy <a href="https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3448330/us-prevents-iran-from-seizing-two-merchant-tankers-in-gulf-of-oman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it had prevented Iranian seizures of two other tankers and that "Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels" since 2021.</p><p>In recent weeks, the US has deployed F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to the Gulf along with warships and 3,000 Marines and sailors. The Biden administration is even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/03/armed-marines-iran-ship-seizures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering</a> putting Marines on merchant vessels to prevent Iranian seizures.</p><p>Earlier this month, during drills near an Iranian-controlled island in the Gulf, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-navy-unveils-new-vessels-equipped-with-600-km-range-missiles-tasnim-2023-08-02/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled new naval vessels</a> armed with missiles with a reported range of 370 miles — likely a deliberate display of capability.</p><div type="image" title="Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fast-attack boats tanker Hormuz" height="547" width="1000" msid="102734822" hostid="261" sizebytes="11888"></div><p>The rising tensions and military buildup have led to comparisons to Operation Earnest Will, which saw US warships deploy to the Gulf from 1987 to 1988 to escort reflagged Kuwaiti tankers that Tehran had been targeting throughout the second half of the Iran-Iraq War.</p><p>In tandem with Earnest Will, the US launched the covert Operation Prime Chance to expose and prevent Iranian mine-laying in the Gulf. The first tanker to be escorted during Earnest Will, the SS Bridgeton, struck an Iranian mine on July 24, 1987.</p><p>There were <a href="https://twitter.com/NavalInstitute/status/1582753160673734657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clashes and confrontations</a> between US and Iranian forces throughout Earnest Will, the biggest of them during Operation Praying Mantis, which the US launched four days after guided-missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine on April 14, 1988.</p><p>Operation Praying Mantis was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-praying-mantis-shows-destruction-of-potential-us-iran-war-2021-4">the US's largest naval action since World War II</a>. During the hours-long fight, US forces sank the Iranian frigate Sahand and crippled the frigate Sabalan, which was intentionally left afloat to avoid further escalation. More than 50 IRGCN and Iranian Navy personnel were killed, while the US lost one SeaCobra helicopter and its two crew members.</p><div type="image" title="Iran navy Sahand Praying Mantis" height="1460" width="2000" msid="102734825" hostid="261" sizebytes="157314"></div><p>A naval clash now would likely have a markedly different outcome. After all, Iran has made significant changes to its naval forces and tactics over the past 35 years, becoming "much more asymmetric," according to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and expert on naval operations.</p><p>Iran's naval force now consists of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, known as the IRGCN, and the regular Iranian Navy, Clark told Insider. "The IRGCN operates in the Persian Gulf and uses mostly small, fast boats that are hard for traditional navies to counter," Clark said. "These fast boats often carry anti-ship missiles or are set up to operate remotely and act as attack drones."</p><p>The Iranian Navy still primarily consists of frigates and corvettes, which operate outside the Gulf, and is much more like other conventional navies.</p><p>Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also emphasized the differences in the capabilities and mission of the IRCGN and Iran's Navy.</p><p>"The IRGCN has transformed compared to 35 years ago with a vast organization and much more capabilities arrayed along the Iranian coastline," Nadimi told Insider.</p><div type="image" title="Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats" height="563" width="1000" msid="102734827" hostid="261" sizebytes="119830"></div><p>While the IRGCN still largely relies on "lightly armed speedboat swarms firing rockets and machine guns at their targets," it has supplemented that "with a large quantity of higher-quality speedboats" armed with short- to long-range anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, Nadimi said.</p><p>The IRGCN also has various drones, large numbers of water-borne improvised explosive devices, better missiles and artillery, and a more effective intelligence network than it did 35 years ago. On top of this, Iranian air defenses are also much better than they were in the late 1980s.</p><p>Iran's navy has also improved. Iran has developed a "homegrown shipbuilding capability" and commissioned several indigenous frigates and missile boats, Nadimi told Insider.</p><p>While Iranian navy ships have significantly improved their anti-ship and electronic-warfare capabilities, their air defenses have not changed much in the past 35 years, though they are "working on" that, Nadimi said, adding that Iranian navy training has "more or less remained unchanged" for over the past three decades.</p><div type="image" title="Iranian Navy ship Sahand in Persian Gulf" height="1320" width="2000" msid="102734828" hostid="261" sizebytes="146970"></div><p>In sum, Nadimi said, Iran's naval forces have "increased quantity; higher quality; better communications; expanded organization; marginally better training, unchanged geographical advantages, except they have more underground fortifications now."</p><p>The context of the current US deployment is also substantially different. At the time of Earnest Will, the US was intervening to help a partner state export oil amid the Iran-Iraq War, a major conflict that had raged for seven years by that point.</p><p>Nadimi said US lawmakers at the time feared the Earnest Will deployment could prolong the "<a href="https://www.strausscenter.org/strait-of-hormuz-tanker-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tanker War</a>" between Iran and Iraq, endanger the flow of oil, harm US neutrality, or push Iran closer to the Soviet Union.</p><p>"They were worried the US was about to make the same mistake it made in Lebanon" by employing US forces "on a symbolic mission without clear and attainable military objectives," Nadimi said. "Some of those arguments resonate today as well."</p><div type="image" title="Marine amphibious assault ship Bataan" height="1334" width="2000" msid="102734831" hostid="261" sizebytes="211202"></div><p>Iran's recent seizure of tankers is also not as provocative as attacking them would be. In 1987, Iran had two Silkworm anti-ship missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz. As the convoy operation for the reflagged tankers was about to start in July 1987, "the US warned Iranians against any use of their newly deployed Silkworm missiles," Nadimi said. "It also considered the risk of escalation if Iran interpreted additional US forces in the region as hostile intent and acted accordingly."</p><p>Today, Iran has hundreds of high-quality missile launchers aimed at the Gulf. Whether Iran would use those missiles, its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-faces-a-huge-liability-in-countering-irans-use-of-sea-mines-2018-8">large arsenal of sea mines</a>, or some other means to attack a US-guarded tanker in the Gulf today is still a matter of speculation, Nadimi said.</p><p>During Earnest Will, US military personnel weren't deployed on the tankers being escorted — the US hasn't put troops on merchant vessels since World War II — and Nadimi doubted that such a deployment today would make conflict more likely.</p><p>"I don't think there is a high risk of a clash between Iran and the US, and even placing armed US Marines on merchant ships and tankers — if it even happens — will not significantly increase that possibility, although it might increase the risk of accidental escalation," Nadimi said. "In general, the situation in the Gulf region is not as dangerous and volatile as it was in 1987."</p><p><em>Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist and columnist who writes about Middle East developments, military affairs, politics, and history. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications focused on the region.</em></p>

A fierce naval battle 35 years ago shows how destructive another US showdown with Iran could get

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed Jafarnejad</span></p><p class="caption">Iranian military personnel participate in the Velayat-90 war game in unknown location near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran December 30, 2011.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Iran threatened to respond to economic sanctions against its oil exports imposed by the US with military action to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, but the US would shut it down quickly.</strong></li><li><strong>The Strait of Hormuz sees around 30% of the world's oil supply pass through, so the US and its allies in the Middle East would have it back open in days.</strong></li><li><strong>Iran must know it can't hold the strait, but a former US ambassador told Business Insider it's likely a bluff to try to send a message about oil prices, which Iran could manipulate and use to help break US-imposed sanctions. </strong></li></ul><p>Iran threatened to respond to economic sanctions against its oil exports imposed by the US with military action to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the sea passage into the Persian Gulf that sees around 30% of the world's oil supply pass - but if they did, the US would shut them down in days. </p><p>"As the dominant power in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, (Iran) has been the guarantor of the security of shipping and the global economy in this vital waterway and has the strength to take action against any scheme in this region," Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri said, according to Reuters.</p><p>Iran's threat to shut down a major international waterway vital to providing food and commerce for hundreds of millions in the region follows its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-confronts-iran-with-fire-and-fury-approach-may-topple-regime-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">president saying the US could find itself in the "mother of all wars"</a> with the Islamic Republic. </p><p>But Iran's military wouldn't last more than a few days against the US and its allies, and according to experts, Iran must know this, and is likely bluffing as they have in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-iran-could-threaten-to-close-the-strait-of-hormuz-2016-8">past threats</a> to close the strait. </p><p>"In the event Iran choose to militarily close the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. and our Arabian Gulf allies would be able to open it in a matter of days," former Adm. James Stavridis <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/what-the-us-can-do-if-iran-closes-the-strait-of-hormuz.html?utm_source=Join+the+Community+Subscribers&amp;utm_campaign=57b6abc3f8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_24_02_43&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_02cbee778d-57b6abc3f8-122507317&amp;mc_cid=57b6abc3f8&amp;mc_eid=c3b7c644a3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CNBC on Monday.</a></p><p><span>Stavridis, who served as NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, said that Iran would likely try to mine the waterway to ward off traffic, and may also resort to sending out its small, fast attack craft on suicide runs against US Navy ships that could do some damage. </span></p><p><span>But the US wouldn't go it alone, and Iran would quickly find the waterway unmined, its<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/a-10-attack-craft-iran-us-navy-2017-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> fast attack craft</a> at the bottom of the strait and its coastal missile batteries destroyed.</span></p><h2><span>What's behind Iran's bluff? Oil</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.fleetmon.com/">FleetMon</a></span></p><p class="caption">This map shows maritime traffic along the Strait of Hormuz, where about 30% of the world's oil experts pass through.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Former US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey, now an expert at the Washington Institute, told Business Insider that it's "highly unlikely" Iran would move on the Strait of Hormuz, "but just the threat of doing that sent oil prices up."</span></p><p><span>President Hassan Rouhani, in warning Trump about the "mother of all wars" tried "to warn not so much Trump, but all of the customers of Iranian oil that if they all stop buying Iranian oil when US sanctions take effect on November 4, it will hurt prices," said Jeffrey. </span></p><p><span>Manipulating oil prices and wielding its massive oil production infrastructure represent "the weapon that the Iranians can most easily use," in combatting US sanctions, Jeffrey said. Rather than violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran deal, Iran prefers to force nations to trade with it in spite of US sanctions by putting pressure on overall supply. </span></p><p><span>"If they would have been violated the JCPOA," said Jeffrey, "they'd lose the support of western Europe."</span></p><p><span>"They're doing this to spook consumers," of Iranian oil, said Jeffrey. </span></p><p><span>"If the Iranians want to escalate" tensions into fighting along the Strait of Hormuz, "we saw that movie in '88 and in the end they lost their navy," said Jeffrey, referring to the Operation Praying Mantis, when the US responded to Iran mining the strait with an aircraft carrier strike group that decimated its navy. </span><span></span><span></span></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Oil WTI price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=WTI"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/border-patrol-agents-us-mexico-border-video-2018-7">I spent a day with Border Patrol agents at the US-Mexico border</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Iran threatened to cut off a key oil shipping waterway - but the US would blow it out of the water

<p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/23395899674/in/dateposted/">Flickr/US Navy Photo</a></span></p><p class="caption">The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transits the Straight of Hormuz.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The US Navy on Saturday released footage it said showed Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12" target="_blank">firing rockets near warships</a> and commercial traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz late last month, a move raising tensions between the two nations despite the recent nuclear deal.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Navy said it released the footage in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, though it also comes as US ally Saudi Arabia has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-says-it-will-cut-off-all-commercial-ties-with-iran-and-ban-its-citizens-from-traveling-there-2016-1" target="_blank">cut ties</a> to the Islamic Republic following attacks on diplomatic posts there after the kingdom's execution of a Shiite cleric.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The 45 seconds of black-and-white Dec. 26 footage, which the Navy said was shot from a Seahawk helicopter, shows what appears to be an oil tanker passing by. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">A flash appears on the left side of the video and after zooming in, it shows small boats the Navy said were Iranian firing rockets.</span></p><p><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Here's the video released from the US Navy:</span></strong></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>US Navy</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Navy has said the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate were nearby at the time, as well as commercial vessels.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Last month, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-denies-rockets-near-aircraft-carrier-2015-12" target="_blank">Iran denied</a> that<span> its Revolutionary Guards </span>launched rockets near the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman<span> in the Gulf and condemned US plans for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-is-reportedly-planning-new-sanctions-on-iran-2015-12" target="_blank">new sanctions</a> over its ballistic missile program.</span> </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Previously, Gen. Ramezan Sharif, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman, said his forces didn't carry out any drills there at that time and called the American comments "psychological warfare."</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>There was no immediate reaction in Tehran to the video's release.</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Military vessels taking part in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria also pass through the strait, a narrow waterway between <span>Iran</span> and Oman. The US Navy previously said <span>Iran</span> gave 23-minutes warning over maritime radio before opening fire with unguided rockets.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Strait of Hormuz is only about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Ships traversing the chokepoint have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles wide, with a 2-mile buffer zone between them.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Google Maps/Amanda Macias/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>The US Navy's 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf. It conducts anti-piracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to <span>Iran</span>.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">US and Iranian forces clashed in the Strait of Hormuz in the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war. On April 18, 1988, the US attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sank or damaged six Iranian vessels, including two naval frigates, in Operation Praying Mantis. That came after the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an <span>Iran</span> Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard. The shoot-down of the jet came shortly after the US vessel reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Amanda Macias/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Screen shot of US Navy video showing an Iranian rocket fired near a US aircraft carrier.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Tensions have persisted in the strait even into this year. <span>Iran</span> sank a replica of a US aircraft carrier in February near the strait and it earlier tested out so-called "suicide drones" it said could crash into naval vessels.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>Iran</span> seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after its forces had earlier surrounded a US-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait. That caused the 5th Fleet to escort commercial ships traveling in the Gulf for a short time.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>Iran</span> and world powers led by the US agreed to a landmark nuclear deal earlier this year to limit Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. <span>Iran</span> has always denied seeking nuclear arms.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The deal reached with moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration has been panned by Iranian hard-liners, and in the months since, <span>Iran</span> has conducted missile tests criticized by the US, as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">In recent days, regional tensions have been escalated even higher as <span>Iran</span> and Saudi Arabia face off after the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the kingdom's diplomatic posts in <span>Iran</span>.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heartwarming-videos-of-soldiers-coming-home-2015-12">The moment when soldiers return home from deployment and surprise their loved ones</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="xrN2dyeDrdINKGx7PQIcy8i6FJbNf1BS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Navy releases video of Iran firing rockets near US aircraft carrier

<p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/23395899674/in/dateposted/">Flickr/US Navy Photo</a></span></p><p class="caption">The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transits the Straight of Hormuz.</p></div><p></p></div></div>On Tuesday, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/two-us-navy-boats-reportedly-in-iranian-custody-2016-1" target="_blank">10</a></span><span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/two-us-navy-boats-reportedly-in-iranian-custody-2016-1" target="_blank"> American sailors were held by Iran</a> after two </span>US Navy riverine patrol boats<span> drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical difficulties. </span></p><p>Iran had originally told the US that the sailors would be returned "promptly," but officials now say that the sailors will spend the night in Iran, <a href="https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/687032564452855808">according to a CNN report.</a></p><p><span>Plans are now apparently in place for Iran </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-boats-idUSKCN0UQ2I920160112?utm_source=twitter">to return the sailors</a><span> to the Navy on Wednesday morning, Gulf time, a US <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> official told Reuters.</span></p><p><span>The incident follows new footage released by the Navy of <span>Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12http://www.businessinsider.com/us-iran-fired-rockets-near-american-warships-2015-12" target="_blank">firing rockets near warships</a><span> and commercial traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz late last month, a move raising tensions between the two nations despite the recent nuclear deal.</span></span></p><p>Iran denied firing rockets <span>and condemned US plans for new sanctions over its ballistic missile program.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Navy said it released the footage in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, though it also comes as US ally Saudi Arabia has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-says-it-will-cut-off-all-commercial-ties-with-iran-and-ban-its-citizens-from-traveling-there-2016-1" target="_blank">cut ties</a> to the Islamic Republic following attacks on diplomatic posts there after the kingdom's execution of a Shiite cleric.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The 45 seconds of black-and-white December 26 footage, which the Navy said was shot from a Seahawk helicopter, shows what appears to be an oil tanker passing by. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">A flash appears on the left side of the video, and, after zooming in, it shows small boats that the US Navy said were Iranian firing rockets.</span></p><p><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Here's the video released from the US Navy:</span></strong></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>US Navy</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Navy has said the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer, and a French frigate were nearby at the time, as well as commercial vessels.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Last month, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-denies-rockets-near-aircraft-carrier-2015-12" target="_blank">Iran denied</a> that<span> its Revolutionary Guards </span>launched rockets near the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman<span> in the Gulf and condemned US plans for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-is-reportedly-planning-new-sanctions-on-iran-2015-12" target="_blank">new sanctions</a> over its ballistic-missile program.</span> </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Previously, Gen. Ramezan Sharif, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman, said his forces didn't carry out any drills there at that time and called the American comments "psychological warfare."</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>There was no immediate reaction in Tehran to the video's release.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Military vessels taking part in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria also pass through the strait, a narrow waterway between <span>Iran</span> and Oman. The US Navy previously said <span>Iran</span> gave a 23-minute warning over maritime radio before opening fire with unguided rockets.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The Strait of Hormuz is only about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Ships traversing the choke point have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles wide, with a 2-mile buffer zone between them.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Google Maps/Amanda Macias/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>The US Navy's 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf. It conducts antipiracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to <span>Iran</span>.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">US and Iranian forces clashed in the Strait of Hormuz in the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war. On April 18, 1988, the US attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sank or damaged six Iranian vessels, including two naval frigates, in Operation Praying Mantis. That came after the near sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an <span>Iran</span> Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard. The shoot down of the jet came shortly after the US vessel reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>US Navy/Amanda Macias/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Screen shot of US Navy video showing an Iranian rocket fired near a US aircraft carrier.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Tensions have persisted in the strait even into this year. <span>Iran</span> sank a replica of a US aircraft carrier in February near the strait, and it earlier tested out so-called suicide drones that it said could crash into naval vessels.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>Iran</span> seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after its forces had earlier surrounded a US-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait. That caused the 5th Fleet to escort commercial ships traveling in the Gulf for a short time.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><span>Iran</span> and world powers led by the US agreed to a landmark nuclear deal earlier this year to limit Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. <span>Iran</span> has always denied seeking nuclear arms.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">The deal reached with moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration has been panned by Iranian hard-liners, and, in the months since, <span>Iran</span> has conducted missile tests criticized by the US, as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">In recent days, regional tensions have been escalated even higher as <span>Iran</span> and Saudi Arabia face off after the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the kingdom's diplomatic posts in <span>Iran</span>.</span></p><p><em><span style="color: #000000;">Natasha Bertrand and Pamela Engel contributed to this report.</span></em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/many-iranians-still-furious-with-the-us-despite-the-iran-deal-2015-11">Many Iranians are still furious with the US, despite the Iran Deal</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1id2xteDoiGr06PHfo-JjeIEbdnXXq82" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "operation praying mantis" and got 8 results

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Iran threatened to cut off a key oil shipping waterway - but the US would blow it out of the water

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Navy releases video of Iran firing rockets near US aircraft carrier

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Last month Iran denied firing rockets near a US aircraft carrier

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