America says that two of its three Gulf- Law of Divine Life

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The US Navy has said two of its three Gulf-based warships with mine-clearing capabilities have made a 4,000-mile trip to Malaysia for a “logistical stop.”

The decision to move the ships comes as Iran’s ability to lay sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz has raised fears that Tehran could block the strategic waterway through which 20 percent of the world’s oil exports pass.

US President Donald Trump has pressed other countries, including Japan, South Korea, France and Britain, to send warships to help reopen the strait, although most have rejected the request.

The mine-sweeping ships were part of a three-coastal combat ship deployment by the U.S. Fifth Fleet to Bahrain last year to protect the strait from hostilities with Iran. They replaced four aging Avenger-class demining ships that were retired from service in January.

Mine countermeasures on the new ships include towed sonar buoys and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

However, two of them – USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara – were photographed at Malaysia’s Butterworth Container Terminal on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the US Fifth Fleet confirmed on Monday that “Tulsa and Santa Barbara are conducting brief logistics stops in Malaysia”.

“U.S. forces regularly make port calls in Malaysia as part of our operations, reflecting the close and enduring military cooperation between the United States and Malaysia,” he said. But declined to answer further questions.

The third ship, the USS Canberra, appears to be off the coast of the Indian state of Kerala, according to ship-tracking websites.

Ethan Connell, principal researcher at Taiwan Security Monitor in Washington and author of a research report on U.S. Navy minesweepers, said it was possible the ships were repairing or escorting other ships such as the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is currently headed to the Middle East.

He said that the ships’ combat capability was very limited and this may have been the reason why they were withdrawn. Littoral combat ships “are not the tip of the spear,” he said.

“Mine countermeasures is a slow and tedious mission” in which helicopters and submarines work together to hunt, Connell said. “Even setting aside reliability and effectiveness issues, they are not made to work in this type of environment.”

“The dirty, murky waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz will make things very difficult to operate,” he said. “Iran launching anti-ship missiles, drones and suicide boats into the strait is not helpful at all.”

Siddharth Kaushal, senior research fellow in maritime energy at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think-tank, said one possibility is that “the US administration miscalculated Iran’s willingness to close the strait because of the costs it would impose on Iran”.