Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said that any U.S.-flagged ship can ask to be accompanied by Navy warships through the narrow strait, which includes Iranian territorial waters.
Officials use the word “accompany” rather than escort, because they say the Navy ships are positioned nearby and are ready to respond if needed, but they don’t travel back and forth through the strait alongside each contract or Sealift Command vessel as they would during an escort. Ryder said the U.S. Navy ships don’t intend to go into Iranian territorial waters.
The policy was adopted after Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps naval vessels reportedly fired warning shots near a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship earlier this week and have detained it and its crew.
Iran says it intervened with the Maersk Tigris because the Maersk shipping line owes it money awarded in a lawsuit.
J-Gav on Sat, 2nd May 2015 5:56 pm
What a bunch of assholes!
BobInget on Sun, 3rd May 2015 2:03 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/11580683/Saudi-Arabia-oversees-deployment-of-ground-troops-in-Yemen.html
Yemen’s ground war continues.