Between United States And Iran The red line has long been crossed. Following the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, previous tensions between Washington and Tehran have increasingly escalated, particularly at sea, where a battle has taken place at times between the two captains of the two sides in the conflict Gaza.
Aiming to assert its superiority on the seas while exercising old-fashioned deterrence, the United States has retreated Missile destroyer the Arleigh Burke-class USS Laboon, the same ship that attacked Iraq in 1996. The powerful ship was spotted on December 11 last year entering the Strait of Gibraltar to conduct operations in the area of responsibility of the 6th Fleet, according to US sources.
The USS Laboon (DDG 58) transits the #StraitOfGibraltar and enters the #Mediterranean Sea to carry out operations in the #US6thFleet Area of operation, December 11, 2023. #USNavy #USSLaboon #DDG58
https://t.co/ulWbb8Wkn3— US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/US 6th Fleet (@USNavyEurope) December 12, 2023
The Laboon in response to attacks by pro-Iranian proxies
Just two days ago, Iranian Navy commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said the Islamic Republic would soon force a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf to leave the area. “We will soon drive them out of the region,” Irani said, IRNA reported, during a conference in Tehran, adding that Iran “will no longer be under pressure and can exert influence.” According to Irani, the US came to the Gulf “out of rebellion and to satisfy its interests.”
Yesterday, however, another proxy attack against Washington: pro-Iranian fighters in Syria They claimed responsibility for the attack on a US military base near the region's most important oil site. This emerged from the Telegram report on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of armed groups allied with Iran fighting against the US military occupation in Syria and Iraq. Since mid-October, shortly after the outbreak of the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel, there have been dozens of attacks by pro-Iranian forces on US military bases along the Euphrates Valley in Syria and the Tigris Valley in Iraq in Syria and Iraq.
The Laboon's Glorious Past
On October 14, the US Department of Defense sent the aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Gerald P Ford (including an embarked air squadron and accompanying cruisers and destroyers). The aircraft carrier had just completed an exercise with the Italian Navy when its 5,000-man crew was ordered to head southeast. A week after the attacks it was also their turn USS Dwight Eisenhower and his strike group, which was ordered to Ford with the task of “deterring hostile action” or escalating attacks on Israel. The Laboon is actually part of Eisenhower's attack group.
A ship that can not only carry out high-level operations, but above all can also conjure up ghosts of recent history. At sea since 1993, it became the protagonist of the launch of in the fall of 1996 Tomahawk missiles against some sensitive targets in Iraq and achieved distinction within his class. After further smaller missions, he received orders in 2012 to go near the Libyan coast in the event of an attack order, as a possible retaliation for attacks on diplomatic missions. And again in 2015, after Moscow's annexation of Crimea, it entered the Black Sea together with another French ship as part of a presence mission. However, in 2018, Laboon was the protagonist of another tomahawk attack in the Red Sea, in retaliation for the chemical attacks against civilians in the city of Douma.