IRIN encounter with USN tracking ship

It was reported that on 02MAR2017 a USN tracking ship encountered an IRIN frigate near the Strait of Horumz. According to CBS News:

A U.S. Navy surveillance ship had a close encounter with an Iranian navy frigate in the Middle East, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

The frigate came within 150 yards of the USNS Invincible on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, just south of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The gulf separates Oman from southeastern Iran.

The encounter was deemed “unprofessional” but not unsafe because the frigate was on a parallel course with the Invincible at the point of closest approach.

COMMENT: Described encounter would have an Iran Navy Alvand or Moudge class frigate responding to a Stalwart class tracking ship.

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) frigates in the Persian Gulf operate from Bandar Abbas, IRIN 1st Region and HQ; while USNS Invincible currently operates from Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

USNS Invincible is oufitted to perform surveillance activities, functioning as a “missile range instrumentation ship” capable of collecting ballistic missile launch data over 2000 km away. The vessel is equipped with a dual S- and X-band Gray Star radar which is tasked and serviced by USAF. The S-band acquires and tracks a potential target while the X-band collects signature data. [source: bellingcat].

During the week of the encounter, Iran had issued a NOTAM for the Semnan area and publicized test firing of a S-300PMU2 long range SAM system. Prior to that, IRIN had been involved in Velayat 95 naval exercises in the Persian Gulf.

File photos for vessel or vessel types are as follows:

USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) Stalwart class tracking ship

Moudge class guided missile frigate (FFGH)

Iranian development of Alvand (Vosper Mark V) class

Foreground: Alvand (Vosper Mark V) class frigate (FFG)

Photos: 
Tabatness
Mahdi Marizad at Fars News Agency

VIP trial flight to new airport on Hendorabi Island, Iran

Imagery of publicized trial flight on 24JAN2017 from Kish International Airport (KIH / OIBK) to new airport at Hendorabi Island in the Persian Gulf. [Photographer: Hossein Tahavori]

On final approach to new airport at Hendorabi Island is Pouya Air Harbin Y12-II high wing twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft.

Pouya Air Harbin Y12-II taxiing at newly constructed airport at Hendorabi Island

Eighteen VIP passengers disembark Pouya Air Harbin Y12-II utility aircraft

Curiously, aircraft bears the incomplete registration EP-PUx. Livery is similar but not exactly same as EP-PUH. Note: U.S. Treasury considers Pouya Air an extension of IRGC-QF for its part in supplying armed forces supporting the Syrian Arab Republic and is therefor subject to sanctions.

Control tower under construction at Hendorabi Island's new airport facility. Visible to the right is Bell 212 Twin Huey reg. EP-PGF, operated by Persian Gulf Aviation Service Co. (PASCO).

Newly constructed terminal building at Hendorabi Island's new airport facility

Interior detail of yet to be occupied terminal building at Hendorabi Island's new airport facility

Close-up of Bachert-type airport crash tender (No. 7) based on Mercedes-Benz NG platform

Runway length at Hendorabi Island reportedly 1450 meters, attracting short-haul regional airline aircraft such as Fokker 50 and ATR-72.

Aerial view with proximity to coast, of new airport at  Hendorabi Island, Iran

Google map location for Hendorabi Island, Iran

Why is Iran confronting USN warships in the Persian Gulf?

 

File photo: IRGCN 13 m catamaran craft during “Great Prophet” maneuvers in 2010 (Photo: Mahdi Marizad at Fars News Agency) 

USS Mahan (DDG 72) Arleigh Burke-class destroyer on 08JAN2017 fired three shots into the water from an onboard machine gun as a warning to Iranian patrol boats who “approached at a high rate of speed".

Many ask why Iran would send relatively much less powerful craft against the might of the United States Navy. As this is part of a pattern of activity exercised by the IRGCN, on 06SEP2016 Alex Lockie at Business Insider queried Cliff Kupchan on the matter. His view is typical of most. This is what he said:

"In my view, [Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic] Khamenei decided it's time to send a message: I’m here and I’m unhappy," Cliff Kupchan, chairman of Eurasia Group and an expert on Iran, told Business Insider in a phone interview.

According to Kupchan, the Iranian navy carries out these stunts under directions straight from the top because of frustrations with the Iran nuclear deal. Despite billions of dollars in sanction relief flowing into Iran following the deal, Kupchan says Iran sees the US as "preventing European and Asian banks from moving into Iran and financing Iranian businesses," and therefore not holding up their end of the Iran nuclear deal.

With respect to Mr. Kupchan, he and others like him are off the mark. This writer can offer a number of different explanations in reference to IRGCN high speed patrol boat intercepts of USN vessels in the Persian Gulf.

In effect, these actions are intended to cause course corrections to USN vessels away from Iranian shores, similar to PLANAF intercepts of USN aircraft.

There are a number of military-related rationales for such encounters, including observation of USN responses, effectiveness of IRGCN craft pursuit and maneuvering against USN vessels, and the rendering of such encounters as a routine that with time possibly fosters USN complacency.

There are also obvious military points of contention in the region between Iranian and American military forces, including backing certain opposing sides in Syria as well as competing for influence among Iraq's military forces. Looked at from this perspective, Iranian assertiveness can be seen as similar to Russian military flexing as a consequence of Western responses towards the Ukraine conflict.

Moreover, the consistent denominator for all these displays that the Russians, Chinese and Iranian share is a projection of defending sovereignty, as nations exercising an independent foreign policy based on their own self-identied national interests. That this becomes points of contention with the U.S.-led global security order is manifested by such displays of IRGCN intercepts of much more powerful naval vessels.

There is a great danger to these encounters, and that is the operation can lead to actual combat and war. During the 2016 presdiential campaign, current PEOTUS stated:

"With Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people that they shouldn't be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water," Trump said to loud cheers.

PEOTUS becomes U.S. commander-in-chief on 20JAN2017.