US deploys submarine to boost Mideast security

ALBAWABA - The U.S. Navy said a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine was operating in the Middle East in support of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet.

The USS Florida entered the region on Thursday and began transited Egypt's Suez Canal on Friday, Commander Timothy Hawkins, a Bahrain-based spokesperson for the Navy's 5th Fleet said in a statement.

The Ohio-class guided missile submarine will operate with the 5th Fleet out of Bahrain.

“It is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and is deployed to US 5th Fleet to help ensure regional maritime security and stability,” Hawkins said. He declined to comment on the submarine's mission or what had prompted its deployment.

The move comes after a Friday warning to ships in the area due to increased tensions between Iran and Israel, the New York Times reported. It said the deployment comes more than two weeks after an attack on U.S. personnel in northeast Syria injured 12 service members and killed a contractor.

The attack was done by a drone that the U.S. says was Iranian. The U.S. quickly responded to that by launching airstrikes on groups tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Last month the Navy also moved the USS George H,.W. Bush carrier group to the Middle East. Iran and its affiliated groups have carried out more than 80 attacks on American forces since 2021, the Task and Purpose reported.