British Empire Deploys Special Forces to Persian Gulf To Face ‘Iranian Threat’

May 20, 2019 (EIRNS)—Following last week’s remarks by the deputy commander of the Operation Inherent Resolve anti-ISIS coalition, British Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika, that the coalition had not detected any serious Iranian threat—earning him an immediate rebuke from the U.S. Central Command—things are apparently back on track. Everyone agrees.

The British Sun tabloid reported today that U.K. Special Forces are being deployed to the Persian Gulf. The Special Boat Service (SBS) “has been flown to the Middle East as part of a top-secret mission to counter possible Iranian attacks on merchant ships.”

The Express tabloid yesterday added that the two SBS teams will be joining U.K.-registered oil tankers transiting in the Persian Gulf south through the Strait of Hormuz, where they will be monitoring Iranian activity around the island of Qesham, which is home to Iranian naval gunboats. The two teams will collect information as the ships move through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman, from where they will be airlifted by Royal Navy helicopters operating out of Oman.

Express hastens to add that General Ghika’s remarks last week were due only to the fact that he hadn’t been properly briefed about the “amount of new intelligence he could reveal.” Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that the U.K. is now fully onboard and “shared the same assessment of the heightened threat posed by Iran.”