Panetta watching flight ops aboard the USS Enterprise
Less than three weeks ago, Iran’s army chief warned the screen door not to hit the stern of the USS John Stennis as it left the Persian Gulf. “I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf,” Major General Ataollah Salehi. “We are not in the habit of warning more than once.”
As Emily Litella used to say on Saturday Night Live: Never mind.
Over the weekend — like a congressman who wishes to “revise and extend” his remarks — Tehran reversed its war-making rhetoric, just in time for the USS Abraham Lincoln to sail through the strait. “U.S. warships and military forces have been in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East region for many years,” a Revolutionary Guards deputy commander, Hossein Salami, told the state IRNA news agency. “Their decision in relation to the dispatch of a new warship is not a new issue, and it should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence.”
The Navy issued a statement concurring with Iran’s revised view: “USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) completed a regular and routine transit of the Strait of Hormuz, January 22, to conduct maritime security operations as scheduled and in support of requirements set by the combatant commander,” it said. “The transit was completed as previously scheduled and without incident.”
U.S. officials wondered about Major General Salehi’s crackpot threat as soon as he uttered it. After all, under maritime law, any interference with international trade in such a waterway is an act of war. There is no way the U.S. – nor anything other seafaring nation – could let Iran shut down the strait without retaliating militarily to re-open it.
Senior U.S. officials said last week a carrier would venture through the strait “relatively soon.” Both the Lincoln and USS Carl Vinson had been steaming just outside it in the Arabian Sea.
The Iranian announcement came as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was spending a day aboard the carrier USS Enterprise, preparing for its 22nd – and final – deployment after 50 years’ service. “Carriers play a major role in our military, not only today, but they will play a role in our future,” Panetta told the crew. “You are part of what keeps our force agile, flexible, quickly deployable and capable of taking on any enemy anywhere in the world.”
We’re sure Iran’s action and Panetta’s words were just like two ships passing in the night, but bet Battleland’s Navy pals have a different view.