Iran strait "keeps me awake at night" - U.S. Navy boss
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief of the U.S. Navy acknowledged on Tuesday that preparing for a potential conflict in the Strait of Hormuz is the kind of thing he loses sleep over.
"If you ask me what keeps me awake at night, it's the Strait of Hormuz and the business going on in the Arabian Gulf," said Admiral Jonathan Greenert, who became the chief of naval operations in September.
The comments by Greenert follow threats by Iran last month to shut off the Strait of Hormuz -- the world's most important oil shipping lane -- if new U.S. and EU sanctions over its nuclear program halted Iranian oil exports.
The United States has said it would not allow Iran to block the Strait, calling it a "red line" for the U.S. military. General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, said over the weekend said that would be a "intolerable act."
"Yes, they can block it ... But we would take action and reopen the Straits," Dempsey told a television talk show.
Greenert did not get into details about what steps the U.S. Navy would take to re-open the Strait. But when asked what about the Strait kept him awake at night, he responded: "I'm an organizer, a trainer and equipper. I'd make sure that our people have the right equipment to do the right thing."
"Our folks that transit in and around that area, I want to make sure that they're able to (deal) with the things that they need to deal with, basically self-protection, counter-swarm, ASW (anti-submarine warfare)," Greenert said.
Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told Reuters on Monday the Air Force would "clearly" play a role in potentially unblocking the Strait of Hormuz, if the United States took on that job.
He said the Air Force could ensure "either localized or broader air superiority," providing support to other U.S. military assets and ensuring secure communications channels through satellites.
It would also play a key role in providing surveillance data from its satellites and aircraft.
(Reporting By Phil Stewart; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
I did a little searching, it seems the Arabs in the area prefer “Arabian Gulf”, which I guess it not a big surprise. Maybe the head of our navy is just being mindful of the sensibilities of our friends in the area.
The historical and geographical name of the Persian Gulf has been endorsed and clarified by the United Nations on many occasions and is in use by the United Nations, its member states, and all other international agencies worldwide. The last UN Directive confirming the name of the Persian Gulf was on August 18, 1994.
The use of the distorted name (The Gulf) of the Persian Gulf was also described as ‘faulty’ by the Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in Berlin on August 27, 2002.
At its 23rd session in 2006, the United Nations confirmed the name ‘Persian Gulf’ as the legitimate and official term to be used by its members.
How would that be if any country would come up tomorrow with a new name for the body of waters? Shall we call the Indean Ocean ‘the Pakistani ocean’ to not upset the “allies” in the future?
Follow Reuters