A scenario for potential war with Iran that I have considered recently involves Iran doing something dumb like hitting a U.S. warship with a missile or a mine in the Persian Gulf. Apparently that scenario has caught the Navy’s attention
too.
Iran has brought its war games maneuvers over the past year into busy
shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the
Persian Gulf through which two-fifths of the world’s oil supplies pass,
the top U.S. Navy commander in the Mideast said.
The moves have alarmed U.S. officials about possible accidental
confrontations that could boil over into war, and led to a recent
build-up of Navy forces in the Gulf, Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh said in an
interview with The Associated Press and other reporters.
The last time the Iranians met the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf was in 1987, during the Iran-Iraq War when the U.S. undertook operations to protect international shipping in the Gulf. The action included:
- Operation Earnest Will
- Operation Prime Chance
- Operation Praying Mantis
- Operation Eager Glacier
- Operation Nimble Archer
The results were not good for the Iranians. The past should give the Iranians pause when considering the possibility of a conventional, force-on-force conflict with the U.S. While the U.S. military may not have been ready for counterinsurgency, it is the best in the world at high-intensity, conventional, force-on-force conflict. The Iranians would not stand a chance.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Iran war, Navy, Iran-Iraq War, GWOT, war on terror, war on terrorism