America’s military presence in the Persian Gulf serves as deterrence to Iran, reassures our increasingly nervous Arab partners, maintains peace, offers stability to our ally Israel, and has many other benefits. But nevertheless, the Pentagon earlier this week quietly announced the reduction in the Persian Gulf of two aircraft carriers to one—not for any strategic reason, but rather for budgetary reasons. It’s a drastic move: The continuous deployment of two U.S. aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf area guarantees an immediate and crushing military response to any provocation—especially to one coming from the Iranians.
The U.S. pullback could not come at a more precarious time: One should expect the Iranian nuclear crisis to come to a head this year. Indeed, Iran has already acquired enough 20 percent enriched uranium to proceed rapidly toward an atomic weapon (perhaps even by the end of the year). Additionally, tensions in the Persian Gulf are steadily rising both over this issue and because of the increasingly aggressive actions of Iranian proxies in Bahrain, the Palestinian Territories, Yemen, Iraq, and elsewhere. The stability of this vital area is fast eroding and the prospect of open conflict steadily growing.
