On Aug. 14, The New York Times reported that Iran’s destruction of the US Navy base in Bahrain forced the Navy to move its logistics hub for supporting its aircraft carriers to the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia some 2,200 miles from the Gulf of Oman where the carriers are operating. “The loss of the hub in Bahrain has contributed to a host of reported problems on carriers supporting operations against Iran, as Democratic senators raise concerns about the Lincoln’s 5,000 sailors and their nearly nine-month deployment,” the Times reported.
The physical effects of the loss of the Bahrain hub are not described in the Times report but they would include vast increases in the time and costs of getting supplies to surface ships operating at sea in support of U.S. operations against Iran. Secondly, the denial of its Persian Gulf base also means that the Navy cannot purchase supplies on the local economies, since Diego Garcia has no economy. That emphatically includes jet fuel, as well as other commodities needed aboard those ships, including food supplies. The logistics complications caused by the Iranian missile attacks on US bases in the region likely effect not only the USS Abraham Lincoln but also the USS George HW Bush and about 11 guided missile destroyers that are deployed in the region with the two carriers.
Two days later, Iranian Army Commander Major General Amir Hatami warned that the best thing the U.S. military could do would be to leave Southwest Asia because Iran will not allow it to reestablish bases in the region again. He argued that the Americans have effectively been expelled from the region and would no longer be allowed to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, or the Strait of Hormuz, reported IRNA.
