– The Drive – The potential threat to international commerce posed by naval mines remains palpable. This is especially true when it comes to their deployment around known geographical bottlenecks. When those bottlenecks convey a large portion of the world’s daily oil supply, destabilizing any one of them could have massive economic and even life-safety repercussions around the globe. This is why the growing threat of naval mines in the Strait of Mandeb, the narrow body of water that ties the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, is so concerning.

– CIMSEC – This article deals with the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz for global energy markets and political stability in the Arab Gulf region, as well as understanding Iran’s maritime strategy of using asymmetrical warfare to disrupt vital energy shipping transiting the Strait.

– CIMSEC – International attention has focused on the possibilities of an Iranian closure of the Straits of Hormuz, and the catastrophic effect a blockade would likely have on global energy supplies. Even a temporary closure or military disruption in the waterway would cause energy prices to soar and could politically destabilize the Persian Gulf region. Far less attention has been paid to Iranian activity in the Red Sea, however, despite the crucial importance of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to world oil shipments.

– BBC – A US Navy ship was forced to change course when fast-moving Iranian vessels approached it in the Strait of Hormuz.

– US Navy Office of Naval Intelligence – The 2017 Office of Naval Intelligence report, Iranian Naval Forces: A Tale of Two Navies.

– CNN – An Iranian warship briefly pointed weapons on its deck at a U.S. military helicopter and coalition warship two weeks ago in the Gulf of Aden.

– Reuters – The Pentagon said on Tuesday that two Iranian warships have “linked up” with a cargo ship that Iran has said is carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen, as activists on board the vessel said it was due to arrive at the Yemeni port of Hodaida on Thursday.

– Reuters – Iranian naval vessels fired shots at a Singapore-flagged tanker in the Gulf on Thursday, in what appeared to be Iran’s latest attempt to settle a legal dispute by force with passing commercial vessels.

– USNI News – Iran’s recent seizure and release of the Marshall Islands flagged M/V Maersk Tigris could be what Iran claims it is, a reaction to a decade-long dispute over shipping containers that were diverted to the UAE and never delivered to Iran. More likely however, it is a thinly veiled attempt at brinkmanship to remind the United States of the kind of trouble that Iran can stir up in the Strait of Hormuz. – See more at: http://news.usni.org/2015/05/11/analysis-irans-latest-round-of-maritime-brinksmanship#sthash.Ladh4PjJ.dpuf

– Reuters – Iranian warships will accompany a cargo ship bound for the Yemeni port of Hodaida, which is held by Iran-allied Houthi fighters. The Iran-flagged Iran Shahed cargo ship set sail on Monday and could be intercepted by Saudi-led coalition forces.

– Reuters – Iranian patrol boats intercepted a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday and forced it into Iranian territorial waters by firing shots across its bow, prompting the U.S. Navy to send a destroyer and reconnaissance plane to monitor the situation.

– Wall Street Journal – Iran dispatched a naval flotilla to the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, a move that could raise tensions between the Islamic Republic and a Saudi-led coalition conducting a military campaign in Yemen, which borders the waterway.

– War is Boring – Iran has carried out a massive attack on a mock version of an American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Tehran wanted everyone to know about it—state TV broadcasted the military exercise live. It’s a revealing look at Iranian naval assault tactics, involving several waves of ships backed by helicopters and shore-launched missiles. The timing isn’t a coincidence. The United States and Iran are deadlocked over a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

– USNI News – Last week’s meeting between the heads of the Iranian Navy and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in Beijing are the latest in a bilateral campaign to increase military to military cooperation and a recognition of growing Chinese interests in the Middle East.

– The Aviationist – The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), the branch of Iran’s military whose role is to protect Tehran’s Islamic system, have published on Twitter an interesting drawing showing how they imagine an attack to an enemy warship entering the Persian Gulf.

– USNI News – A mock-up of an American aircraft carrier will be used as a target by Iranian naval forces in an upcoming exercise.

– AP – Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the country has temporarily called off a plan to dispatch warships to the Atlantic Ocean.

– Defense News – Despite limited capabilities and lacking in modernization, Iran has always been seen as the major naval threat in the Arabian Gulf region.