All posts tagged: naval

US military says it has lifted naval blockade of Iranian ports | US-Israel war on Iran News

US military says it has lifted naval blockade of Iranian ports | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

CENTCOM says that all blockade enforcement efforts ‘have ceased’ but that US forces will remain in the area. Published On 18 Jun 202618 Jun 2026 The United States military says that it has lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports, part of an agreement between the US and Iran suspending military operations during a period of negotiations. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday that all US blockade efforts have ceased but that its forces will remain in the area to ensure compliance with the agreement. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “Today, US forces lifted the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas, in accordance with the President’s direction. American forces are not impeding the transit of vessels to or from Iranian ports. All US military blockade enforcement efforts have ceased,” CENTCOM, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, said in a social media post. “Our great Naval Ships will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement …

US Tells Europe, Canada to Boost NATO Air and Naval Forces

US Tells Europe, Canada to Boost NATO Air and Naval Forces

Published by Sam Flores

BRUSSELS, June 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. expects European NATO allies and Canada ⁠to ⁠swiftly increase the number of manned ⁠and unmanned aircraft and ships they contribute to the alliance’s defence plans as Washington steps ​back in these areas, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday. The statement by U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander and ‌the head of U.S. forces in ‌Europe, followed a decision by the Trump administration to shrink the pool of U.S. military capabilities available to NATO in a crisis. U.S. ⁠President Donald Trump ⁠has repeatedly criticised NATO and told its European members they will have to ​take over primary responsibility for the conventional defence of the continent. The U.S. told allies last month of its decision to reduce its contribution to a framework known as the NATO Force Model, which includes a pool of forces that could be activated during a crisis. But it ​did not publicly disclose any details. Grynkewich’s statement, issued after a meeting of NATO military planners on Wednesday, was ⁠the first ⁠public indication of …

Sinking From Submarines: The Rules of Naval Warfare

Sinking From Submarines: The Rules of Naval Warfare

Published by Jenni Sidey

We don’t often spend a lot of time thinking about the morality of submarine warfare. It’s a small and secretive world that rarely seeks attention. It did, however, surface recently with the sinking of Iranian warship IRIS Dena on March 4, 2026.   When looking at this incident, it is important to take a deep breath. In the age of cognitive, cyber, and information operations it is challenging to understand what is true. In philosophical terms, war is always surrounded by epistemic uncertainty—the fog of war—but now battles are fought over our perception of fact, and our moral cognition is perhaps the most important terrain of the cognitive battlefield.   The first thing to understand about the incident is the status of the units. USS Charlotte is an American nuclear-powered (not nuclear-armed) attack submarine. The Dena is a Moudge-class destroyer. Dena is set up for defense against submarines, aircraft, and missiles. It can carry anti-ship missiles. The submarine has one primary role, to attack surface and sub-surface vessels, and it is armed with heavy-weight torpedoes, though it can also …

Sweden to buy four frigates from France’s Naval Group

Sweden to buy four frigates from France’s Naval Group

Published by Sam Flores

Sweden’s government said Tuesday that it would buy four new frigates from France’s Naval Group as part of a rearmament effort launched after the war in Ukraine and its accession to NATO in 2024. “This is one of the largest Swedish defence investments since the Gripen fighter jet was introduced in the 1980s,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at press conference aboard a navy corvette in Stockholm. FRANCE 24’s Emerald Maxwell reports. Keywords for this article Source link

The UK’s New Multinational Naval Initiative Aims To Contain Russia In The Arctic & Baltic

The UK’s New Multinational Naval Initiative Aims To Contain Russia In The Arctic & Baltic

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Andrew Korybko, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, head of the British Royal Navy, announced that his counterparts from the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Taskforce comprised of the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands agreed to create “a family of allied fleets”. Officially known as the “Northern Navies Initiative” (NNI), it’s explicitly aimed at containing Russia in the Arctic and Baltic. This represents the evolution of the UK’s Arctic-Baltic policy that was elaborated on last summer here. Estonia, at the far end of the Baltic Sea in proximity to St. Petersburg, was identified as the eastern lynchpin of this strategy with Greenland now becoming its western one. The inclusion of (for now still Denmark’s) Greenland, Iceland, and of course the UK hypothetically enables this “family of allied fleets” to monitor the so-called GIUK gap, which is Russia’s Arctic gateway to the Atlantic. Denmark also controls the Baltic Straits so the NNI can indeed potentially blockade Russia to an extent. As was explained here last month, however, any blockade would be an act of war that could prompt …

U.S. attacks Iranian tankers trying to skirt naval blockade : NPR

U.S. attacks Iranian tankers trying to skirt naval blockade : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency and taken on May 2, 2026, the Gambia-flagged tanker vessel Bili is pictured anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA via AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA via AFP via Getty Images DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, reported another Iranian missile and drone attack. The attacks cast more doubt on a tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranian response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes to receive “a serious offer” from Iran later Friday. The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to …

Strait of Hormuz blockade and other major naval sieges in modern times | US-Israel war on Iran News

Strait of Hormuz blockade and other major naval sieges in modern times | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway once carrying roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, remains effectively closed after the United States and Iran imposed competing blockades. Naval blockades are one of the oldest weapons in warfare, requiring no ground troops or invasion, just the ability to cut off what an enemy needs to survive. These blockades have reshaped economies, societies and alliances across generations, sometimes with instant shockwaves, sometimes with effects only seen later. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list From Israel’s ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip to blockades during World War I, here are some notable naval blockades in modern history: Israel’s siege of Gaza (2007-present) A view of the severely damaged Gaza City port as fishermen work under difficult conditions due to Israeli attacks, March 8, 2025 [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu] Israel’s complete land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip is one of the longest sieges in modern history. Launched in 2007, Israel has limited the entry of goods and essential supplies, causing a prolonged …

UK eyes anti-Putin naval partnership in High North – POLITICO

UK eyes anti-Putin naval partnership in High North – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“This is where our long-term focus must remain, where Russian service and subsurface activity continues to pose a systems challenge,” he added. Addressing an audience at the defense think tank RUSI, Jenkins stressed that the JEF alliance must “deepen and evolve” in order to “generate the collective combat power necessary.” The navy chief tried to address widespread criticism that the force had been unprepared to deploy in response to the Iran war, saying: “I’m here to show you that the Royal Navy is already rising to the challenge in front of us.” Strains on Britain’s maritime resources were laid bare by the debacle of HMS Dragon’s deployment to the Mediterranean to defend Cyprus, which took several weeks to reach its destination and left the U.K. with only one other destroyer in service, which is committed to a separate Carrier Strike Group mission in the High North. Jenkins said that he is focusing his efforts on rapidly equipping the navy with uncrewed systems to sit alongside crewed vessels — such as the minehunting robots promised for the …

Why a century-old naval disaster means Trump can’t take the Strait of Hormuz by force

Why a century-old naval disaster means Trump can’t take the Strait of Hormuz by force

Published by Sam Flores

Why has nothing been done to reopen the Strait of Hormuz? The answer is simple – as his advisers will have told Donald Trump before he attacked Iran, it is almost impossible to clear a passage through a minefield when the shoreline is held by the enemy, without being prepared to take significant casualties. And this, it seems, the US is not prepared to do. It is one thing to bomb a less technologically sophisticated enemy from the air, but quite another to get involved in a real fight at sea level with an opponent who has been planning this form of asymmetric warfare for a very long time. History gives a stark lesson on why America needs to tread warily – a page from the First World War. It was March 1915. The “straits” concerned were the Dardanelles – the narrow passage linking the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and giving access to Istanbul. The Turks were the defenders, the British and the French the attackers. They were in the middle of a shooting …

Middle East war live: Hormuz reopening ‘not possible’ amid US naval blockade, Iran says

Middle East war live: Hormuz reopening ‘not possible’ amid US naval blockade, Iran says

Published by Sam Flores

23/04/2026 – 02:37 Oil prices up 4% on uncertain Iran-US ceasefire prospects Oil prices jumped four percent Thursday after Iran vowed not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so long as a US naval blockade remained in place despite a ceasefire extension. At around 0025 GMT, the benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 4.06 percent to $96.73 per barrel. International oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude rose 3.62 percent to $105.63. Both eased back in the following minutes. 23/04/2026 – 02:36 Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before relevant international bodies, says PM Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists and the obstruction of relief efforts constituted “war crimes.” “Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these ‌crimes before the relevant international bodies,” he said on X. 22/04/2026 – 22:27 Body of journalist Amal Khalil found beneath rubble after Israeli strike, Lebanese military official says Paramedics have recovered the body of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil hours after an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who …