Iran moves mock aircraft carrier to sea amid US tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran has moved a mock
aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions
between Tehran and the U.S., satellite photographs released Monday show, likely
signalling the Islamic Republic soon plans to use it for live-fire drills.
An image from Maxar Technologies taken Sunday shows an
Iranian fast boat speed toward the carrier, sending waves up in its wake, after
a tugboat pulled her out into the strait from the Iranian port city of Bandar
Abbas.
Iranian state media and officials have yet to acknowledge
bringing the replica out to the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the
world's oil passes. However, its appearance there suggests Iran’s paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard is preparing an encore of a similar mock-sinking it conducted
in 2015.
The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which patrols
Mideast waterways, remains “confident in our naval forces’ ability to defend
themselves against any maritime threat," said spokeswoman Cmdr. Rebecca
Rebarich when asked about the faux carrier's movements.
“We cannot speak to what Iran hopes to gain by building this
mockup, or what tactical value they would hope to gain by using such a mock-up
in a training or exercise scenario," Rebarich told The Associated Press.
"We do not seek conflict, but remain ready to defend U.S. forces and
interests from maritime threats in the region.”
The replica resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the
U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, the
narrow mouth of the waterway. The USS Nimitz, the namesake of the class, just
entered Mideast waters late last week from the Indian Ocean, likely to replace
the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Sea.
It remains unclear when or if the Nimitz will pass through
the Strait of Hormuz or not during its time in the Mideast. The USS Abraham
Lincoln, deployed last year as tensions initially spiked, spent months in the
Arabian Sea before heading through the strait. The Eisenhower came through the
strait early last week.
The replica carries 16 mock-ups of fighter jets on its deck,
according to the satellite photos taken by Maxar Technologies. The vessel
appears to be some 200 meters (650 feet) long and 50 meters (160 feet) wide. A
real Nimitz is over 300 meters (980 feet) long and 75 meters (245 feet) wide.
The mock-up strongly resembles a similar one used in
February 2015 during a military exercise called “Great Prophet 9.” During that
drill, Iran swarmed the fake aircraft carrier with speedboats firing machine
guns and rockets. Surface-to-sea missiles later targeted and destroyed the fake
carrier.
That drill, however, came as Iran and world powers remained
locked in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Today, the deal born of
those negotiations is in tatters. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew
America from the accord in May 2018. Iran later responded by slowly abandoning
nearly every tenant of the agreement, though it still allows U.N. inspectors
access to its nuclear sites.
Last summer saw a series of attacks and incidents further
ramp up tensions between Iran and the U.S. They reached a crescendo with the
Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem
Soleimani, head of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds, or Jerusalem, Force. Iran
retaliated with a ballistic missile attack that injured dozens of American
troops stationed in neighboring Iraq.
Given the timing of Iran moving the replica to sea, with
satellite photos showing it being tugged out of port on Saturday, a drill
targeting it may be a direct response from Tehran to an incident last week.
That event involved a U.S. F-15 fighter jet approaching a Mahan Air flight over
Syria, which saw passengers on the Iranian jetliner injured.
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