Pentagon: US Plans Naval Escorts for Gulf Tankers

By Staff, Agencies

The Pentagon said it is discussing military escorts for vessels in the Gulf.

The White House's nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said on Thursday Washington was attempting to put together a coalition "in terms of providing military escort, naval escort to commercial shipping".

"I think that that will be developing over the next couple weeks," Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Earlier, the US Fifth Fleet said it was working closely with the British Royal Navy as well as regional and global partners to defend freedom of navigation through the region.

"The United States Fifth Fleet is aware of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy's ‘unlawful’ harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the UK-flagged merchant vessel British Heritage on 10 July, near the Strait of Hormuz," Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, Commander US Fifth Fleet, claimed in a statement.

A spokesman for the US military's Central Command said threats to navigation required an international solution.

On Tuesday, Marine General Joseph Dunford, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US was working to enlist allies in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen.