The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is holding joint naval exercises with an eye towards creating a joint maritime security force.
The Saudi-based Arab News reports:
The joint naval exercise began in the UAE on Monday with the participation of naval forces of the six Gulf states. The exercise will help raise the level of GCC’s preparedness, combat efficiency and cooperation.
The aim of the exercise is to unify the naval operations of the GCC states and to exchange expertise to make the GCC navy a deterrent force in a region. …
On maritime threats, a report published recently said that “threats to regional waters over the past year have extended from the Strait of Hormuz further south to the Bab Al-Mandal gateway in Yemen and north to the Red Sea.”
A Kuwaiti defense official told Arab News that “the new force is expected to be formed within coming months.”
The joint naval drills will continue until March 12. They are taking place in the strategic Strait of Hormuz and not far from the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, which Iran seized from the United Arab Emirates in 1971.
While Arab News didn’t name the threat that the proposed naval force is addressing, others were more explicit.
Abdul Khaliq Abdullah, political analyst from the United Arab Emirates, said (Arabic link) that the joint naval exercise is “a message to Iran and its threats,” especially because it is taking place very close to Iran’s borders.
Meanwhile, the Iranian navy took delivery Monday of what a top admiral said was a “faster and more agile” domestically produced destroyer which will be used in the Caspian Sea. Agence Presse-France reports:
The ship, named Damavand after the country’s highest mountain, is 90 meters long, weighs 1,300 tons and is armed with cruise missile systems, torpedoes and electronic warfare equipment.
The naval exercise takes place not far from where Iran last month held its own naval war games in which Iranian forces attacked and sank a replica of an American aircraft carrier.