Mideast: US Defense Secretary Hegseth Shows Force In Mideast Waters
Anna Moneymaker
On the first of this month, the United States’ Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, announced the movement of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group into the Central Command (Centcom) Area of Responsibility (AOR). In US military language, the Centcom AOR refers to the Middle East. These orders for a significant new deployment in the region come alongside an increasingly aggressive campaign against the Houthi militias in Yemen, Israel’s resumed war in Gaza, and US nuclear negotiations with Iran. Mr. Hegseth is currently facing calls to resign after a scandal, known as ‘Signalgate,’ in which he and other cabinet-level national security officials discussed attack plans against the Houthis in a Signal chat that also included Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.
Centcom and uS policy in the mideast
The United States formed CentCom to expedite the deployment of soldiers and increase operational readiness in the “‘central’ area of the globe” after the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq-Iran war brought greater US focus to the Middle East. Centcom oversaw and operated Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait, the invasion of Iraq after al-Qaeda’s September 11th attack on New York City, the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and all other US military involvement in the Middle East.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, he issued no major deployments. His biggest foreign policy moments in the Middle East were to withdraw the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal, and the recognition of Israel by several more Arab states in the Abraham Accords. President Joe Biden’s term began with a hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and ended with large deployments back to the region to support Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon.
Mr. Biden ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford into the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a matter of hours after the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023. He doubled his defensive deterrence posture one week later, ordering a second aircraft carrier group, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, into the Sea. Throughout Israel’s war against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran, the US aided materially with munitions and ballistic systems, as well as defensively, firing down hostile drones and missiles.
The deployments of this month from the new administration’s Pentagon mirror the US’ aggressive new stance in the Middle East, particularly against the Houthis and Iran. The USS Harry S Truman has been stationed in the Red Sea for the past several months and has been carrying out a relentless mission against the Yemeni Houthi militias this spring. Friday, April 18th, was the deadliest day of the campaign so far, with reports out of Yemen claiming US strikes killed 74 at the Ras Isa fuel port. Centcom has not confirmed a casualty count.
Accompanying the USS Vinson Group into the Centcom AOR are a US Air Force B-52 bomber stationed in Bahrain and seven B-2A Spirit stealth bombers to Diego Garcia, a British Island in the Indian Ocean. The B-2 bombers are massive aircraft able to carry the US GBU “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” 12,300 Kg bomb. Military observers note that it is this type of missile which could be used to target deep infrastructure in Iran believed to be used for furthering Nuclear power production.
The buildup of US military capability at the base in Bahrain is particularly notable, as Bahrain is the only Gulf state that did not specifically forbid the US military from carrying out operations against Iran from their territory. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have all forbidden the US from striking Iran from bases in their territories. Furthermore, Bahrain was the only Gulf state to join the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian against the Houthis in the Red Sea.
Red Sea Troubles
The American campaigns against the Houthis and Iran are related but have very different tactical elements and strategic goals. The primary goal in the campaign against the Houthis is to protect the Red Sea trade route through which a significant portion of global shipping trade passes. Since October of 2023, the Houthis have constantly disrupted shipping, attacking barges, kidnapping sailors, and threatening companies. A US-led coalition, including Britain and France, is taking responsibility for opening the routes, but the battle continues. As political differences grew in Middle Eastern policy between the US and EU, the EU formed its own operation to operate alongside but independently of the US mission early last year. The Houthis have netted over a billion dollars in a protection racket for safe passage through the Red Sea. The US Navy and Air Force have kept up a 24/7 operation to intercept Houthi attacks and diminish their piracy capabilities.
Meanwhile, on a larger scale, Iran is the force behind the Houthis. For years now, Iran has supplied the Houthis with money and weapons as part of their Axis of Resistance, a coalition of non-state militias across the Middle East, many of which are designated as terror organizations by the United States. Their Axis of Resistance notably includes Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad alongside the Houthis, as well as several smaller organizations in Iraq and Syria. Over the last two years, these Iranian proxy organizations have been losing a war against Israel. Israel’s overwhelming response to the indiscriminately violent Hamas attack on October 7th has destroyed the capabilities of Hezbollah and Hamas, and murdered tens of thousands of civilians across Palestine and Lebanon. The worst of the violence against civilians is in Gaza, where the Israeli bombing campaign against Hamas, made possible by the United States, killed mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry operated by Hamas.
Both Israel and the US have used the October 7th attack as an opportunity to reduce the power of Iranian proxies in the Middle East. This goal has been broadly effective. Hezbollah no longer functions as an effective military force or governing power in Lebanon; Hamas' ability to govern has been dismantled, with its territory reduced to rubble and its population displaced; the Iran-aligned Assad regime in Syria has collapsed; and the United States is now engaged in direct military conflict with the Houthis. Iran previously used its many powerful allied militias in the Middle East as a bargaining chip; deal with us, or we will attack Israel. Israel has all but eliminated this threat and catastrophically demonstrated its strength against Iranian groups.
What’s Next?
Mr. Trump’s administration is now hoping to negotiate with Iran while it is on the back foot. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, spoke with the foreign minister of Iran, Dr. Abbas Araghchi, in Oman on Saturday, April 12, and again in Italy on April 19. These are the highest-level diplomatic communications between the United States and Iran since President Barack Obama’s negotiation of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. Trump’s withdrawal from this deal has meant more sanctions on the struggling Iranian economy, but fewer guardrails against their development of nuclear power.
Iran insists that any and all work and research on Nuclear capability development is for domestic energy purposes. The US and Israel are wary. The massive deployment of US forces into the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, and surrounding countries puts American cards on the table. The message to Iran is clear: we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. In reports leaked to the media, the United States held Israel back from decisive attacks on the Nuclear infrastructure in Iran already. This may or may not be true, but it plays into Mr. Trump’s narrative that he holds all the cards. Iranian leadership has made its feelings on American tactics clear.
While both Israel and Iran are more or less pariahs in the Middle East, Israel’s quasi-genocidal actions against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have made them public enemy number one among the people of the region, potentially more hated and feared even than Iran. Israel is the only remaining country in the Middle East with the political cover to support Israel. This enmity has given Iran more room to maneuver. A new moderate Iranian president presents a more approachable face to the Islamic Republic as well. Iran is playing these cards to the maximum degree, restraining its diplomacy to calm and open-minded, yielding tactical results against the furious blustering of Israeli politicians.
There is yet no public information about the Iran conversations except that American and Iranian leaders both say they feel positively. Mr. Trump was unhappy with the Iran deal constructed by Mr. Obama, perhaps he has changed his mind, perhaps he prefers an Iran deal that has his name on it instead. Deterring Iran from obtaining Nuclear weapons certainly keeps geopolitics in a more predictable status quo. The revisionist theocracy would become a powerful threat if it developed nuclear capability, both economically in its capacity to produce energy, but, more pressingly, militarily, with the capacity to raze nations.
Other countries in the Middle East are afraid of Iran’s willingness to sew chaos to achieve political ends. They have already seen Iran’s power with small pitifully armed militias, nukes would be another tier of threat. However, they are furious at the United States’ relentless support of Israel’s extremely violent campaigns in Palestine and Lebanon and are not leaping at the opportunity to support America. As in many geopolitical negotiations of the post-Cold War era, peace seems to be available to the highest bidder.
Mr. Trump’s doctrine, and his Middle Eastern ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attempt peace through strength as Middle Eastern foreign policy. They are not interested in ideology or justice or accountability, but rather stability and security. Iran’s leaders are no more interested in war with America, but they have a desire for accountability and ideology in regards to Israel and America. Syria’s brand new government, Jordan’s conflict-surrounded Kingdom, the devastated Palestinian and Lebanese governments, and the wealthy, growing Gulf countries are caught in between. On one hand, regional sovereignty and lessening American hegemony is high on everybody’s wish list, a desire most fervently sought by Iran. On the other hand, peace and stability may be more important to countries ravaged by war or with investments at stake.
Iranian negotiations with America have the possibility to usher a new doctrine in Middle Eastern American relations as they pertain to Nuclear capability, Israel, and economic participation. Unfortunately, they also have the power to descend an already struggling part of the world deeper into violence and poverty. The massing of American military power in the area makes a threat which no historically knowledgeable person could call empty. For the sake of the children, families, and civic infrastructures of the Middle East, may cooler heads prevail.
