According to reports from Fox News, Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a submerged Yono-class “midget” submarine in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday but the test ultimately failed. Back in February, Iran claimed to have successfully tested a submarine-launched missile though it was not immediately clear if this week's test was the first time the Iranians had attempted to launch a missile from a submerged submarine.
Of course, this missile test is the latest event in a long-running rivalry between Iran and the United States in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which guards the entrance to the Gulf. About 20% of the world's oil passes through the waterway, which is less than 40 km wide at its narrowest point.
This incident comes on the heels of other recent provocations from Iran including yet another close encounter between a U.S. Navy Destroyer and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel just a few weeks ago.
In April, the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer fired a warning flare after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel came within 1,000 meters of the USS Mahan.
The USS Mahan "made several attempts to contact the Iranian vessel by bridge-to-bridge radio, issuing warning messages and twice sounding the internationally recognized danger signal of five short blasts with the ship's whistle, as well as deploying a flare to determine the Iranian vessel's intentions."
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Iran has conducted as many as 14 ballistic missile launches since the landmark nuclear agreement in July 2015. A senior U.S. military official told Fox News that Iran had made great advances in its ballistic missile program over the past decade.
Late last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Iran’s behavior had not changed since the White House put the Islamic Republic “on notice” following Iran’s successful intermediate-range ballistic missile test-launch in late January.
Meanwhile, this latest missile test comes just one day after members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced they're working on a new Iran sanctions bill.
“The ranking member and I are in strong agreement on a pathway forward and that's what we're going to do. We're going to do an Iran sanctions bill. It'll be done toward the end of this work period. We're also working together on a bill to push back against Russia in Europe and what they're doing, and those are the two courses of action that we're taking.”
Seems like it may be time to air drop some more Swiss Francs into Tehran...oh wait, the Obama guide to resolving foreign policy disputes with Iran no longer applies...
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