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How Marines could prevent Iranian harassment of commercial ships
By Irene Loewenson
Aug 16, 03:40 PM

Marine 1st Lt. Jesse Comer, a field artillery officer, reports a contact
of interest through radio communications aboard amphibious transport
dock ship Somerset as the ship transits the Strait of Hormuz in 2021.
(Staff Sgt. Kassie McDole/Marine Corps)

Although it’s unclear exactly what Marines would do if placed on
commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, retired
military leaders say they could deter Iranian forces from harassing or
seizing the vessels — and quickly loop in the Navy if issues arise.

More than 100 Marines already have gotten training from the Navy and are
prepared to be put on commercial vessels transiting the strategically
important passage ― which links the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman ―
if ordered, the U.S. Naval Institute reported Friday, citing an
anonymous U.S. official.

The security teams are made up of between 15 Marines and 19 Marines,
according to the U.S. Naval Institute. Training began before the Navy
ships carrying them arrived in Bahrain on Aug. 6, the Institute reported.

The teams could prevent Iranian forces from coming aboard the ships,
retired Marine Lt. Gen. Dave Beydler said in a webinar Tuesday moderated
by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a pro-Israel
think tank.

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“You will not get on a commercial vessel that has a contingent of
Marines on board,” said Beydler, the former commander of Marine Corps
Forces Central Command.

The Marines could protect against threatening close passes by other
ships, Beydler said. They can fend off attacks with their counter-drone
and counter-air capabilities. And with their communications
capabilities, they could quickly alert the Navy if threats emerge from
Iran, Beydler said.

Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of
NATO, wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed Friday that the Marines’ “jam-proof
communications” would be their most important asset.

Stavridis noted that having U.S. Marines protect commercial vessels
would mark a return to a historical role and a beginning as “a powerful
fighting force on sailing ships, often protecting convoys of commercial
craft.”

Experts told the U.S. Naval Institute the potential peacetime deployment
of Marines onto commercial ships would be unprecedented in modern history.

The last known time the military put armed troops on commercial ships,
according to the pro-restraint think tank the Quincy Institute for
Responsible Statecraft, was World War II. To protect logistics from
attack, service members from the Navy’s Armed Guard operated the guns
aboard merchant vessels.

The Defense Department declined to confirm or deny plans to place
Marines on commercial ships.

In response to a query, a spokesman for the Marine Corps directed Marine
Corps Times to query U.S. Central Command.

“CENTCOM remains committed to supporting our partners and collective
efforts to protect the freedom of maritime navigation and the free flow
of commerce throughout the region,” U.S. Central Command said in a
Tuesday emailed statement to Marine Corps Times. “We do not discuss
future/on-going operations.”

The DoD has, however, made clear that the recent Middle East deployment
of approximately 3,000 Marines and sailors on the amphibious assault
ship Bataan and dock landing ship Carter Hall was meant to prevent Iran
from meddling with commercial shipping.

The Marines who would go on commercial vessels are part of the
special-operations-capable 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is
spread across those ships plus the amphibious landing dock Mesa Verde,
the U.S. Naval Institute reported.

The possible deployment of armed U.S. troops onto commercial ships,
first reported by The Associated Press, comes after a spate of Iranian
interference with ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

On July 5, the Iranian navy attempted to seize two oil tankers moving
through the strait and fired shots at one of them, the U.S. Navy said.

The U.S. Navy says Iran has seized at least five commercial vessels in
the past two years and has harassed more than a dozen others. Many of
the incidents have occurred in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the
narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all crude oil passes.

“Achieving deterrence is one of those mission outcomes that’s tough to
define at times,” Beydler said. “How do you know that you’re being
successful in deterring big events, small events and so forth?”

Beydler noted that placing Marines on the ships could bring a potential
for escalation.

“It’s a region that’s fraught with potential miscalculation,” retired
Navy Vice Adm. Mark Fox, former deputy commander of U.S. Central
Command, said in the webinar Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

About Irene Loewenson
Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined
Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate
of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student
newspaper.