US deploying F-16 jets to Strait of Hormuz to deter Iran navy

The United States is sending F-16 fighter jets to the Gulf this weekend to reinforce its presence in the region amid an increase in Iranian harassment of oil tankers.

According to the Associated Press, an anonymous official told Pentagon reporters yesterday that Washington will deploy an unspecified number of F-16 jets to the Gulf region in an effort to give support to the A-10 attack aircraft that have patrolled the area over the past week and a half.

The F-16s will reportedly provide air cover to ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz and will increase the US military’s visibility in the area. The move is directly intended to serve as a deterrent to Iran and its naval forces in the waterway, which attempted to seize two oil tankers last week and opened fire on one of them in the process.

Reporters quoted the official as revealing the US is also considering a variety of military options to confront or prevent increasing Russian harassment of American aircraft in the skies over Syria, a week after Russian jets were reported to harass a US drone flying in that airspace.

The US Navy was reported to cite two recent incidents as evidence of the necessity of aerial deterrence in the Gulf, saying that Iranian naval vessels had retreated when the USS McFaul – a guided-missile destroyer – arrived at the scene of the alleged harassments.

Iran accuses US Navy of defending fuel smuggling in Gulf incident