The United States Navy announced the arrival of 3,000 sailors and Marines to the Middle East Monday following a call by the Pentagon for more troops after the Islamic Republic of Iran tried to seize commercial ships in U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) areas.
According to reports from CENTCOM, the U.S. government plans on sending troops from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to the Middle East.
"Sending the Marines is a good move on Biden's part, but the question is whether he'll learn the lessons,” said Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
"First, rogue regimes like Iran and American partners in the region respect strength, not State Department statements," he added.
In a statement, CENTCOM announced that the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 50) and dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) entered the Red Sea after transiting from the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. Bataan ARG/26th MEU units bring to the region additional aviation and naval assets, as well as more U.S. Marines and sailors, providing greater flexibility and maritime capability to U.S. 5th Fleet."
The statement went on to say that the amphibious assault ship can "carry more than two dozen rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, including MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and AV-8B Harrier attack jets in addition to several amphibious landing craft."
CENTCOM also noted that a dock landing ship "also supports operations for various rotary-wing aircraft, tactical vehicles, and amphibious landing craft.
"It's all well and good to talk about a pivot to Asia, but vacuums in the Middle East are dangerous and always draw us back. Perhaps the better strategy would be to fund a military capable of operating in both theaters, rather than to allow inflation and progressive fantasies to erode the military budget," Rubin told The Foreign Desk.
The U.S. Navy said the 26th MEU can conduct "amphibious missions, crisis response," and engage in "special operations."
Last July, the Secretary of Defense ordered the deployment of an "Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) into the CENTCOM area of responsibility," following attempts by the Islamic Republic of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to capture commercial ships in the Persian Gulf.
In response to the latest U.S. action Nasser Kanani, a spokesman from the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry, said the U.S. government's military presence in the region has "never created security."
"Their interests in this region have always compelled them to fuel instability and insecurity," he told reporters.
"We are deeply convinced that the countries of the Persian Gulf are capable of ensuring their own security," Kanani said.
In the past few months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued to harass American, Israeli, and Saudi commercial ships, stoking chaos and tensions in one of the world's most critical trade routes.
U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, have responded to Iranian aggression, increasing their military defense against Iranian-backed terror proxies in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza.
Despite condemnations and warnings from the Biden White House, the administration has maintained dialogue with the regime in Tehran, hoping to obtain a nuclear agreement before the 2024 Presidential election.
"Rogue regimes don't change their behavior because Blinken gives them a lecture of women's rights or respecting transgenders. The only way to change rogue regime behavior is regime change," Rubin said.
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