No Need To Fear An Iranian Atlantic Fleet

I’m 6’2″ and weigh 200 pounds; yet, I don’t think Floyd Mayweather (5’8″ and fights at 147 lbs) would fear me too much if I threatened to fight him. Though I do have a boxing gym at home and generally like to stay in shape (other than round) challenging someone at what their regarded as the best at doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

It’s the same to assume there is any real threat from Iran dispatching its phantom naval fleet to US Atlantic waters. The travel distance from the Persian Gulf to Atlantic waters off our Eastern coast is roughly 9,000 miles after traveling across the Gulf of Oman, through Red Sea, the Mediterranean and onwards west towards US territory. That is a mighty ambitious plan considering their obsolete British-holdover frigates rarely leave the Persian Gulf. The Iranian Navy only recently deployed warships to the Med for the first time ever.

Throw in the fact Iran’s naval fleet is in constant need of spare parts and maintenance and its personnel greatly lacks any expertise in blue water sailing and navigation, and the whole scenario is ridiculous. Not to mention the technology and naval capability it would meet. It would be really be like shooting fish in a barrel. And that’s just the Coast Guard.

Even if they did try their hand at such a hopeless undertaking, my question would be how big of a tugboat fleet would they need to haul their rust buckets half way around the world?

The threat has always and still remains the Persian Gulf itself. Iran has adopted the concept of asymmetric naval warfare by using mines, small fast-attack ships in the hopes of bottlenecking the Persian Gulf so they can use their surface-to-surface anti-ship missiles that are tucked away along its coast. For more on that, read Robert Kaplan’s essay on “Asymmetry at Sea.”