19 September 2020 — Indian Punchline
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz transits the Strait of Hormuz as the flagship of US Carrier Strike Group, Sept 18, 2020 (US Navy photo)
The US Fifth Fleet announced on September 18 that a Carrier Strike Group comprising USS Nimitz passed through the Strait of Hormuz with the guided-missile cruisers USS Princeton and USS Philippine Sea and guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett. After a gap of some ten months, a US aircraft carrier is being deployed to the Persian Gulf.
I am writing to you with regard to the recent alarming security situation in the broader Persian Gulf region. There are indications that certain circles from outside of this region – through fabrications, disinformation, fake intelligence and fake news, relying on the support of their allies in the Middle East as well as dispatching naval forces to the region – are pursuing their illegitimate interests by sowing further division and creating more mistrust between regional countries in the Persian Gulf, as well as fomenting insecurity and escalating the already high tension in this volatile region. If unchecked, the current situation might – sooner or later – go beyond the perimeter of control and thereby lead to another unnecessary regional crisis.
