The USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, is to be deployed to the Persian Gulf to bolster the United States' military presence in the region. File Photo Courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works/Facebook
July 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. military announced it is bolstering its forces in the Persian Gulf to counter Iranian attempts to seize oil tankers in the region.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday during a press conference that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of the USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, and F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility in response to "a number of recent alarming events in the Strait of Hormuz."
The deployment is a response to several attempts by Tehran in recent months to seize vessels traversing the Persian Gulf.
In April, Iran's navy was successful in capturing a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker.
In early June, the U.S. and British navies responded to a distress call from a merchant ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz that came under harassment from what U.S. Naval Forces Central Command described as three Iranian fast-attack boats.
And on July 5, the U.S. military said it thwarted two attempts by the Iranian navy to seize commercial tankers near the coast of Oman.
The deployment on Monday is on top of the increase in rotation of U.S. ships and aircraft patrolling the Strait of Hormuz that was announced in May in response to the increase in malicious activity in the region by Tehran.
"In light of this continued threat and in coordination with our partners and allies, the department is increasing our presence and ability to monitor the strait and surrounding waters," Singh said.
"We call upon Iran to immediately cease these destabilizing actions that threaten the free flow of commerce through this strategic waterway of which the world depends on for more than one-fifth of the world's oil supply."
