By William Tucker

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is holding their regular war games, but this time the focus is on the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic choke in the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world's oil flows and is a major artery into Iraq for U.S. military operations. Should a military attack occur against Iran's nuclear sites the clerical regime has threatened to use several different measures at its disposal to close the strait. In this exercise the IRGC is using naval, ground and air forces to demonstrate that they maintain some capability to carry out this threat. Unlike Operation Praying Mantis, a short naval engagement between Iran and the U.S., Iran is likely to engage U.S. warships in asymmetric warfare using small speed boats laden with explosives. The Iranian military also has several batteries of surface to surface missiles in the area that are capable of striking U.S. targets in the vicinity including the 5th Fleet in Bahrain. Ultimately the U.S. Navy is far superior in military capability and can mitigate this threat, but any traffic disruption in the Strait of Hormuz can have severe economic repercussions worldwide.

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By William Tucker

The Office of Naval Intelligence is once again warning that al-Qaeda intends to strike out at ocean traffic in the waters between Yemen and Somalia. Threats to waterborne traffic in the waters off Yemen are not new and the Navy reissues warnings to all sea traffic in the area when chatter picks up. In fact, a similar warning was issued about six months ago over the same region. What makes this warning stick out is its timing. Al-Qaeda in Yemen has suffered several setbacks as of late, especially coming on the heels of the failed Christmas day airline bombing, and it is not a stretch to believe that they may launch an attack to stay relevant. We must keep in mind that Somalia piracy has been effective even with a large international naval presence operating in the area. Furthermore, these pirates have managed to highjack ships by pulling their skiffs next to the target vessel in order to board - a similar tactic used to hit the USS Cole in 2000 and the M/V Limburg in October 2002.

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The flagship for the war on terror could well be the U.S. Navy ship Mercy. But this Navy vessel is not armed for battle. Just the opposite: It is fitted for peace.

Excerpt from op-ed piece by Ken Ballen, founder and president of Terror Free Tomorrow.

For the full op-ed, click here.

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