All eyes are now focused on what is left of Iran’s navy and the Strait of Hormuz. Even though the U.S. military has sunk or destroyed 60 of Iran’s ships, the threat from Iranian naval vessels remains. There is now reporting that Iran might be taking steps to mine the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Central Command has issued a warning to all civilians to avoid ports used by Iranian forces.
The United States has a long history of sinking Iran’s navy. On April 14, 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine in the Persian Gulf. The ship nearly sank, but was saved by her crew. The mine was identified as Iranian, and four days later, President Ronald Reagan responded by initiating “Operation Praying Mantis,” which destroyed half of Iran’s fleet in a single day.
The modern-day Iranian navy is unique in that it specializes in asymmetrical and nonconventional vessels and tactics. One way they do so is with their investment in small vessels known as Fast Attack Craft and Fast Inshore Attack Craft. FACs are small combat boats armed with antiship missiles, guns, or torpedoes. Even more insidious, FIACs are repurposed civilian vessels, anything from a fishing trawler to a speedboat, armed with machine guns or personnel carrying rocket-propelled grenades.
At first glance, it might not seem these boats are even worth the effort to destroy; the scale of a FIAC compared to an aircraft carrier is comical. But these FIAC’s operate in swarms and can do serious damage. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy is not constrained by the bounds of maritime law and routinely engages in dangerous, unpredictable actions.
The seas around the Middle East have been dangerous waters for Americans for decades. In 2000, the USS Cole was bombed while in port in Aden in a textbook example of the deadliness of FIACs and how they menace larger ships. A small boat loaded with explosives was detonated alongside the Cole, killing 17 sailors and forcing the crew to fight fires and flooding for 96 hours. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility, but the tactic is similar to Iran’s naval tactics. In 2021, a group of 13 FIAC boats maneuvered dangerously close to a group of U.S. Navy vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including an aircraft carrier conducting flight operations in international waters. The FIAC’s dart in front of aircraft carriers, trying to force them to rapidly change direction, messing up approaches for aircraft and antagonizing the U.S. Navy.
Perhaps the most direct provocation occurred in 2016, when the Guard apprehended two small U.S. Navy boats in the Persian Gulf, detaining their crews and subjecting them to interrogation and humiliation. The crew was eventually released, but the Iranian regime celebrated it as a propaganda success, awarding medals and even recreating the incident during parades. Throughout the past four decades, Iran has routinely engaged in unprofessional, dangerous, and antagonizing behavior at sea.
As of Friday, at least six bulk carrier ships were hit around the Strait of Hormuz, but even that is a low estimate. Control of the strait remains one of Iran’s final cards to play. The strait is a major chokepoint, only 21 miles wide at its narrowest, and bordered by Iran in three directions. Iranian-controlled islands dot its northern and eastern sides, giving Iran enormous capacity to exert control.
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And it is of immense strategic significance to the global economy because 20% of the world’s oil passes through it. Iran’s asymmetrical tactics include mining the strait and firing on ships that pass through it or threatening them with FIAC swarms. The U.S. military has said it is not ready to escort shipping-industry vessels, and with intelligence reporting that Iran might be mining the strait, the decision makes sense. First and foremost, the Iranian navy must be eliminated, both to protect our own ships and to reduce the Iranian capability to lay mines.
The U.S. Navy was first created to protect maritime shipping, and risks to free and open seaborne trade should not be tolerated. It has a proud history of fighting threats to overseas commerce, from the Barbary pirates on the “shores of Tripoli” to the Houthis attacking in the Red Sea. International shipping and trade exist because the U.S. military is big enough to protect ships in international waters, but the priority in combating an enemy must be to secure our own military’s safety, and that cannot be done until Iran’s navy is neutralized.
Ali Holcomb is a national security fellow and communications adviser for Advancing American Freedom.