The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower approaches the Persian Gulf. According to the ship’s observers, Ike (that is his “nom de guerre”) and his escort were spotted just outside the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman. A defense official confirmed the aircraft carrier’s location to USNI News but would not confirm whether it would enter the Persian Gulf soon. If the attack group passes through the Strait of Hormuz, it would be the first time a US aircraft carrier has sailed to the Persian Gulf since the USS Nimitz in late 2020.
INSIGHTS
Eisenhower’s mission
The Eisenhower left Norfolk Naval Base on October 14th. The attack group was initially supposed to settle in the Mediterranean and relieve the USS Gerald R.
Ford. However, the USA changed its plan and directed it towards the Persian Gulf. Ike transited the Suez Canal on November 4 and crossed the Bab el Mandeb in the Gulf of Aden over the weekend.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CSG moved deeper into the Gulf of Oman, closer to the Strait of Hormuz, on November 16. In this position, almost all of Iran, including Tehran, is within range of Tomahawk missiles. pic.twitter.com/WcRoyKgugC
— Duan Dang (@duandang) November 16, 2023
Tensions between the USA and Iran
The Strait of Hormuz represents the choke point between the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, which is partly controlled by Iran. For this reason, Eisenhower’s movements did not go unnoticed. The US deterrent measure against Iran has so far kept Tehran in a waiting position in the context of the ongoing conflict in Israel. But tensions in the Middle East are always high. And Ike’s recent position seems to have fueled it. The attack on the US military base at Tell Baydar in Syria, which was hit by missiles from pro-Iranian forces in the region, is no coincidence.
The ship was spied on by Iran
Last November 6, Iran wanted to send a warning to the US and showed a video filmed with a drone that captured the Eisenhower’s approach to the Persian Gulf with all its firepower. “We are watching you very closely,” is the message Tehran wanted to convey. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed ownership of the drone video: “After USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) arrived in the region, it is worth noting that we captured high-quality photos of this aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf,” without the US Navy noticed. The Iranian drone has immortalized the queen of the US seas with all its arsenal. “If they did not receive military and political assistance from the United States, the Zionist regime would not be able to continue (Operations in the Gaza Strip, editor’s note). “The Americans are literally complicit in the crimes of the Zionists in Gaza,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday during a meeting in Tehran with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
The crossed messages
On the day that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said he had sent messages to the United States that he did not want an all-out war with America’s rival, pro-Iranian Iraqi fighters fired rockets at the U.S. military base at Tell Baydar Northeast Syria, near other American positions in the Arab country plagued by more than 12 years of internal and regional war. A few hours earlier, the Israeli air force had attacked alleged depots of the Lebanese Hezbollah, also allies of Iran, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing at least two militiamen, both of non-Syrian nationality. In this context, Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Miqdad, who represents a power militarily and politically supported by Russia and Iran, warned Israel against “going too far with its attacks on Syrian soil.” In the evening, unknown gunmen fired explosives at the Iranian Pasdaran’s “Imam Ali” base in Syria’s Abukamal district on the border with Iraq. Iran assures that it has not stationed its men in this corner of territory between Syria and Iraq. But beyond Iraq and the Gulf, the American aircraft carrier Eisenhower was approaching near Hormuz. It has been three years since a US aircraft carrier entered these waters and touched the shores of Iran. A possible crossing of the strait by the Eisenhower, together with the presence of other US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean, could set an explosive precedent in the current context of tension. “We believe that the deployment of U.S. aircraft carriers in the region does not represent a strength for the United States. “In fact, we assume that this will make them more exposed to possible attacks,” warned Iranian diplomatic chief Abdollahian. However, the same minister assured that he had given the United States guarantees that “Iran does not want the war to expand.”
The extended conflict
Still, he added: “Given the actions of the US and Israel in the region, if crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank do not stop, all options could be considered, and a major conflict could prove inevitable.” Just a few hours ago, Iranian General Esmail Qaani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Brigade (Pasdaran), sent an “open letter” to Hamas and Hezbollah fighters in which he stated that Tehran provided “everything necessary for this historic battle will do”. and that the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” referring to the alliance between Iran and other anti-Israel armed groups, “will not allow the enemy to achieve its objectives in Palestine and especially in the Gaza Strip.” Fierce exchanges of fire took place throughout the day between the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli army. And media in Beirut have reported on Israel’s use of phosphorus bombs, banned under international law, in civilian-inhabited areas along the strip of Lebanese territory closest to the front line.