The U.S. military will pursue Iranian-linked vessels in waters far outside the Middle East, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Cain said Thursday, referring specifically to the Indo-Pacific.
According to Lloydslist.com, the Pacific region, particularly anchorages in and around the Strait of Malacca, has the highest concentration of black fleet tankers transporting illegal or sanctioned oil from countries such as Iran.
“We are conducting similar maritime interdiction actions and operations in the Pacific AOR (Area of Responsibility) against vessels that departed the area prior to the start of the blockade,” Kane said.
Charlie Brown, a senior adviser on dark fleet tracking at the nonprofit organization United Against Nuclear Iran and a former U.S. naval officer, told CNN that Kaine’s words and the movements of some U.S. warships monitored by ship-tracking platforms and satellite imagery suggest the U.S. may be considering a similar operation to the one it used against Venezuela-linked tankers during the country’s quarantine earlier this year.
“The United States has previously seized sanctioned tankers far from Venezuela’s immediate region, including the Indian Ocean,” Brown said.
“We would expect similar activity there,” he said, “on the high seas, where the United States has more freedom to maneuver and fewer restrictions.”
CNN reached out to the 7th Fleet regarding the movements of the aircraft carrier Miguel Keith, and as of Thursday local time, satellite images showed it heading toward the Malacca Strait.
The Miguel Keith, a giant ship roughly the size of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, left Sasebo, Japan on April 8th.
The ship stopped briefly in Singapore waters on Friday and passed through the Straits of Malacca in the evening.
Known as an expeditionary maritime base, its missions include airborne mine countermeasures and special operations, according to a Marine Corps statement.
In a statement Thursday, Kaine pointed to the congestion near the Strait of Hormuz, calling it “incredibly crowded” and praising the U.S. military for conducting a blockade operation in such conditions.
