Global SITREP D6-16: US Engages Iranian Forces in Yemen

Vertical Missile Launch from the USS Mason

UPDATED (see below) 13 October 2016: This has been seen coming from a long way off... US Naval forces engaging Iranian missile sites in combat operations in the Middle East.

Last evening, following a second Iranian (IRGC) attempt in three days to strike a small US flotilla with Kosar (AShM (anti-ship) missiles the US struck back at the sites which fired the missiles in Yemen, just north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. All Iranian targets were destroyed.

Background: All summer long Iranian naval forces have been exhibiting increasingly bellicose and unprofessional behavior towards US naval forces operating from the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to the Strait of Hormuz. Those incidents passed without the exchange of fire.

However, that all changed a week ago. In late August the Iranians delivered a massive shipment of AShM weapons and radar equipment to sites in Yemen under Houthi rebel control just north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Those missile systems and their electronic targeting command and control systems went operational one week ago when a former US ship, the UAE-operated HSV-2 Swift, was attacked by one and possibly two Iranian Kosar AShMs; the attack nearly destroyed the Swift.  

Following the attack the US Navy deployed the USS Ponce, USS Mason and USS Nitze to patrol the coastline opposite the Iranian missile bases on the Yemeni coast. On Sunday, the American ships came under attack by three Iranian Kosar missiles fired from those bases. The USS Mason fired a salvo of SM-2 missiles in defense of the flotilla, as well as a brand new defensive system known as the Nulka Decoy System. All Iranian missiles harmlessly impacted the Red Sea.

Then, yesterday evening the Iranian fired their Kosar missiles in a second attack on the American flotilla. This time the result was the same, and different. It was the same in that the Nulka system on the USS Mason again splashed the Iranian missiles harmlessly into the Red Sea, and it was different in that the USS Nitze fired at least 6 Tomahawk missiles at the Iranian missile/radar bases destroying them completely as well as the IRGC troops who manned those bases. Battle damage assessment has yet to determine if there were any survivors.

Here's a video to illustrate how the new Australian/American designed Nulka Decoy System works.

This is just the first of what likely will become a series of engagements between US and/or Coalition naval forces and Iranian naval forces. It is reasonable to expect this action to continue in the near future at the Strait of Hormuz and within the confines of the Persian Gulf.

What remains of one IRGC radar/missile base struck by US Tomahawk

Another View of  the destruction of IRGC radar/missile base in Yemen.

14 October 2016: These two images above appeared on the web late yesterday. They are AP photos taken from an AP video made at the site of one of the US Tomahawk strikes. It appears by the number of destroyed vehicles present that the IRGC deployed mobile anti-ship systems at two locations in southern Yemen overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait choke point.  Also, Iran's navy has deployed a small frigate and a replenishment ship into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the wake of these US retaliatory strikes. The last time Iranian naval forces challenged US Navy warships (April 1988) they lost badly, with a total of eight vessels being sunk or damaged severely. Lesson learned?

It is the view of Eschatology Today that this kind of skirmishing could ultimately lead to a fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:34-39 in the coming months.

16 October 2016: Perhaps not all of Iran's 'eggs' (anti-ship missiles and radars) in Yemen were in the same basket. Yesterday afternoon another salvo of anti-ship cruise missiles were fired at the USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Nitze (DDG-94) patrolling the northern approach to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. This attack was confirmed by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson. 

USS Mason DDG-87

It would appear that once again the Nulka Anti-Missile Decoy system fitted onboard the USS Mason effectively defeated yesterday's 1500 (3 PM) local time Iranian attack on our ships. This repeated attack following the destruction of the first three systems by US Tomahawks on 13 October provides some indication that the IRGC had tunnels constructed and camouflaged in this same general area of Yemen's coastline.  No doubt a detailed active search for the surviving Iranian missile systems is ongoing, and they will in all certainty be struck upon discovery with penetrating ordnance, or "as appropriate." 

Watching for further developments.