By Staff, Agencies

The track of normalization continues as the Naval forces of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the “Israeli” entity, and the United States have held a joint maritime exercise in the Red Sea.

The move marks the first publicly acknowledged naval drill between the four, weeks before talks resume in Vienna to remove Washington’s anti-Iran sanctions.

The United States Naval Forces Central Command [NAVCENT], which participated in the drills on the US side, said on Thursday that the naval exercise kicked off on Wednesday.

The five-day drills include training on the USS Portland vessel and will “enhance interoperability between participating forces’ maritime interdiction teams,” a US statement said.

“Maritime collaboration helps safeguard freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade, which are essential to regional security and stability,” claimed Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of NAVCENT, US 5^th Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces.

An “Israeli” naval officer told reporters that the start of such military cooperation under US auspices could help counter Iran’s “power projection” in the region.

The US 5^th Fleet is based in Bahrain and operates in the Gulf, Sea of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

Iran has repeatedly called on regional countries to rid the region of “extra-regional forces” in order to establish sustainable security through intra-regional cooperation. It has also strongly denounced normalization agreements with the “Israeli” entity, as the main destabilizing element in the region.

The UAE and Bahrain were respectively the first and second Arab countries that normalized their ties with “Israel” last year.