Top US Navy official in Mideast on deterrence with Iran

The top US Navy official in the Mideast said on Sunday that America had reached an "uneasy deterrence" with Iran after months of attacks and seizures at sea, even as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Vice Admiral Sam Paparo, who oversees the Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, struck an academic tone in comments to the annual Manama Dialogue hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

He described having a "healthy respect" for both Iran's regular navy and the naval forces of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.While Iran hasn't seized a tanker or been blamed for an attack in the region in recent months, a mine recently struck an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia and a cargo ship near Yemen came under assault. Suspicion immediately fell on Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for being behind both attacks.

The Houthis have not commented on either attack. Paparo, a former Navy fighter pilot who most recently served as director of operations at the US military's Central Command, offered a different stance than his immediate predecessor, Vice Admiral James Malloy.

In one of his last comments to journalists in August, Malloy referred to Iran as “reckless and provocative” and always trying in dramatic naval drills to “lower the denominator until they’re sure that they can look like they’ve won something.” Malloy’s tenure saw oil tankers seized by Iran and a series of limpet mine explosions targeting tankers that the Navy blamed on Iran.

Tehran denied being involved, though Revolutionary Guard members were filmed taking an unexploded mine away from one tanker. By contrast, the several months that Paparo’s been in charge have not seen any major crises. Paparo also said he did not believe the 5th Fleet's mission would be affected by the Navy potentially reconstituting a 1st Fleet responsible for the Indian Ocean.

Still, his remarks carried a clear warning, quoting former US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at one point. “Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone in the room,” he said. “That’s how we conduct ourselves at sea.”