HMCS Regina sails from B.C. to Gulf as tensions with Iran escalate

HMCS Regina sailed Tuesday from B.C. to replace HMCS Charlottetown in the Arabian Gulf at a time when the U.S. has been quietly moving additional naval forces into the volatile region to prevent any attempt by the Iranian military to block the Strait of Hormuz.

The buildup of U.S. forces near Iran was reported in the New York Times Tuesday. The move is part of a game of high-stakes brinksmanship involving Iran, the U.S. and Israel over Iran's nuclear program.

In a related action, the U.S. and its allies have put in place an almost total embargo on Iranian oil exports to try to force Tehran to make concessions.

The Charlottetown has made several transits of the Strait of Hormuz in the past few weeks, for shore visits in the Persian Gulf and not for operational reasons, a senior military officer told Postmedia News Tuesday.

"Those transits were for R and R," the officer said. But to get to friendly ports on the western side of the Gulf, warships must pass within a few kilometres of Iran in the channel, running a gauntlet of Iranian anti-ship missiles and small, high-speed craft operated by Iran's Revolution Guard Corps. Warships that transit from the Indian Ocean into the Gulf are also routinely buzzed by Iranian surveillance aircraft.

The Charlottetown has been at the leading edge of what the Harper government described last year as a move to establish, for the first time, a semi-permanent Canadian naval presence in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

The frigate, which is based in Halifax, has a crew of 250 sailors as well as a small air detachment flying Sea King helicopters.

The Charlottetown participated in the naval bombardment and blockade of Libya early last year before returning to Canada for a few months. In its absence, HMCS Vancouver carried out similar duties before the Charlottetown returned.

The Regina is not expected to return to B.C. until December or January. It is likely to be replaced by an east-coast frigate at that time.

"We are probably going to continue that cycle for some time," the officer said.

The Charlottetown was moved from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal to the Arabian Sea in late April to conduct what Defence Minister Peter MacKay described at the time as "security and anti-terrorism operations."

Since then the frigate has been patrolling as part of Combined Task Force 150, a multinational operation usually involving about a dozen or more warships. It is led from a U.S. naval base in Bahrain and is responsible for a large swath of water including the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is one of three such task forces operating in the western Indian Ocean.

Having the Charlottetown and other Canadian warships near Iran fits with the Harper government's strong opposition to Iran's suspected plan to acquire nuclear weapons.

MacKay reportedly told Israel's top general, at a meeting last year, that "a threat to Israel is a threat to Canada."

Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Matthew Fisher