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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 10 July 2019

U.S. proceeding with plan for coalition to deter Iran threats

tion partners that would tween Yemen on the Ara- mercial vessel, he said.
conduct patrols in vulner- bian Peninsula and Djibouti The initiative was triggered
able waterways like the and Eritrea in the Horn of last month by Trump ad-
Strait of Hormuz, which sep- Africa. ministration concerns that
arates the Persian Gulf from Any escorting of commer- Iran was behind recent at-
the Gulf of Oman, as well cial ships would be done tacks on commercial ships
as the Bab el Mandeb, a by military ships sailing un- in the Persian Gulf region.q
heavily trafficked strait be- der the flag of the com-

In this May 1, 2019, file photo, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Gen. Joseph Dunford testifies during a House Appropriations
subcommittee on budget hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Associated Press
By ROBERT BURNS the plans would have to be
AP National Security Writer further refined.
FORT MYER, Virginia (AP) — Dunford said he discussed
The United States will move the matter Tuesday with Es-
ahead with plans to build per and Secretary of State
a coalition of nations to Mike Pompeo, and that
monitor and deter Iranian plans are coming together.
threats against commer- “We’re getting ready now
cial shipping in the Persian to move out,” Dunford told
Gulf area and in a heavy a small group of reporters
trafficked waterway be- at Fort Myer, Virginia.
tween the Arabian Penin- “We have a pretty clear
sula and the Horn of Africa, concept of what we want
the chairman of the U.S. to do.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff said He suggested that the
Tuesday. project could begin with a
Marine Gen. Joseph Dun- small coalition.
ford said the Pentagon has “This will be scalable. So,
developed a specific plan, with a small number of
and that he believes it will contributors we can have
be clear within a couple of a small mission and we’ll
weeks which nations are expand that as the number
willing to join the effort. of nations that are willing to
Mark Esper, the acting sec- participate identify them-
retary of defense, raised selves,” he said.
the issue last month with al- He said the U.S. military’s
lied officials at NATO head- main role would be to pro-
quarters, but no nations vide “maritime domain
were ready to commit to awareness” - intelligence
participating. and surveillance informa-
Esper said at the time that tion - to the ships of coali-