3,000 US Navy personnel arrive in Strait of Hormuz to help deter Iranian tanker seizures

More than 3,000 US Navy personnel have reached the Middle East to help deter tanker seizures by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said.

The sailors from the Navy's Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit came through the Suez Canal on their way to the Red Sea.

They travelled on two warships, the USS Bataan, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, and the USS Carter Hall, a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship.

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The vessels have come to offer "greater flexibility and maritime capability", according to US Naval Forces Central Command.

Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said: "As we have been for a very long time, we're co-ordinating with our partners in the region when it comes to US military presence because, again, it's not just the US military that's out there patrolling commercial shipping lanes.

"We're working as part of a broader coalition... on that effort."

It follows the Iranian Navy's attempts to illegally capture two merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

In one of the instances, an oil tanker, the Bahamian-flagged Richmond Voyager, came within a mile of an Iranian naval boat and was shot at it using small arms and crew-served weapons. After the USS McFaul appeared, the Iranian ship disappeared.

In July, the US Air Force deployed F-35s to defend the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iranian Navy's continuing "harassing" of vessels.

Since 2021, Iran has attacked or seized around 20 merchant vessels, according to US Central Command.

Mr Ryder added: "That's why we've deployed these additional assets, to give us additional options, to speed up timelines and, again, broadly, to ensure stability."

The USS Bataan can hold more than two dozen rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, including the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and AV-8B Harrier attack jets, as well as some amphibious landing craft.

Meanwhile, the USS Carter Hall supports operations for various rotary-wing aircraft, tactical vehicles, and amphibious landing craft.