Persian Gulf news stories on Newser

To Keep Eye on Its Oil, Iraq Buys US Drones

Matt Cantor — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:57:09 CDT

Iraq is looking to America to help it monitor its oil interests—sort of. The country is buying unarmed surveillance drones from the US that will scour Iraq's Persian Gulf waters, which Iran has spoken of blockading in the past and which the majority of Iraq's oil exports flow through,...

Iran Threatens Google Over Nameless Gulf

Rob Quinn — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:19:23 CDT

The body of water separating Iran from the Arabian peninsula is nameless on Google Maps, and Iran isn't happy about it. Iran's foreign ministry accuses Google of dropping the name Persian Gulf "as one of the seditionist acts taken as part of the soft war against the Iranian nation," Reuters...

Iran's New Political Flashpoint: Tiny Gulf Island

John Johnson — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:19:05 CDT

Add the island of Abu Musa to those lands whose location and politics makes their importance far greater than their size. As the New York Times explains, the island is only four square miles, but it happens to sit in the Persian Gulf, and both Iran and the United Arab...

Admiral: Iran Has Suicide Boats

Mark Russell — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:20:44 CST

Iran has significantly built up its naval arsenal, adding more fast attack boats and some ships that "have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device," US Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters yesterday, according to Reuters . Iran also now has 10 small...

Iran Again Flexes Naval Muscles

Mark Russell — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:17:29 CST

Just a month after the Iranian navy held war games in the Persian Gulf , the more powerful Revolutionary Guard is holding naval maneuvers, too, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, reports the AP . The Guard is directly controlled by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who yesterday pledged to help any...

US Sending 'Mothership' to Gulf for Special Ops

Mark Russell — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:10:27 CST

With the US increasingly relying on targeted special ops instead of large military forces, the Pentagon will send an aging warship to the Gulf region to serve as a "mothership" for Navy SEALs and other special forces fighting Somali pirates, al-Qaeda, and other threats (like maybe this ), reports the...

War of Words Escalates Over Iran Sanctions

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:54:43 CST

Senior Iranian lawmakers stepped up threats today that Islamic Republic warships could block the Persian Gulf's oil tanker traffic after the latest blow by Western leaders seeking to rein in Tehran's nuclear program: A punishing oil embargo by the European Union that sharply raises the economic stakes for Iran's defiance....

US Boosting Persian Gulf Forces

Rob Quinn — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:04:58 CST

Some of the US troops who left Iraq last month didn't move very far. As tensions with Iran rise, the US military has been quietly boosting its strength in the Persian Gulf, reports the Los Angeles Times . The move comes as US officials have warned Iran that closing the Strait...

US Rescues Iranians in Gulf (Again)

John Johnson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:49:48 CST

The big bad Americans rescued more Iranians at sea today. This time, a US Coast Guard cutter plucked six fishermen off their boat in the Gulf when the engine failed and the vessel began flooding, reports Fox News . The crew hailed the passing US ship with flares and flashlights. It's...