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<\/a><\/p>\nBRITISH SPECIAL FORCES have been flown into the Middle East as part of a secret contingency operation to counter potential Iranian attacks on UK merchant shipping transiting the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf.<\/span><\/p>\n It follows a ratcheting of tension in the region, with the US deploying an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf in response to what it said were credible threats from Iranian forces. And last night one of the US\u2019 most senior diplomats warned Iran not to underestimate President Trump\u2019s resolve for military action. In Britain, the Foreign Office has warned British-Iranians not to travel to the country in case they are detained. Now two SBS teams have joined UK registered oil tankers transiting in the Persian Gulf south through the Strait of Hormuz, where they will be tasked with monitoring Iranian activity around the island of Qesham – home to Iranian naval gunboats. Both teams will collate information as the ships move south through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman, where it is understood they will be airlifted off by Royal Navy Merlin helicopters operating out of Oman.<\/span><\/p>\n Just days ago four oil tankers were attacked with explosive devices south of the port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman, regularly used by the Royal Navy as a crew change stop and logistics hub for its nuclear powered hunter killer submarines.<\/span><\/p>\n Military analysts believe the attacks were mounted by Iranian special forces to demonstrate how easy it would be for Tehran to close down the Strait of Hormuz and bring oil exports to a halt if Washington continues to threaten the Islamic Republic.<\/span><\/p>\n Britain and the US seemed to display a rare difference in policies over the middle east last week when the Pentagon publicly corrected a statement from Maj-Gen Chris Ghika, the UK\u2019s military commander in the US-led mission against Islamic State, that \u201cthere\u2019s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n But sources later explained that Maj-Gen Ghika had not been briefed about the amount of new intelligence he could reveal.<\/span><\/p>\n And, despite not joining the US in quitting the now discredited Iran nuclear deal, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the UK \u201cshared the same assessment of the heightened threat posed by Iran.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tehran\u2019s regional stranglehold is based on its desire to build a \u201cland bridge\u201d connecting Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon in order to more easily support Hezbollah forces.<\/span><\/p>\n It also continues to sponsor terrorism in Europe, including a failed bomb plot at a conference of Iranian dissidents – attended by US diplomats -in Paris last year.<\/span><\/p>\n But differences within the US administration are also causing concern, with both Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton accused of \u201cwriting cheques that President Trump won\u2019t cash\u201d with their strong anti-Iranian messages.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week the US commander-in-chief slammed as \u201cfake news\u201d reports that the US was poised to send 120,000 soldiers to counter Iranian aggression in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHopefully we’re not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cI\u2019m sure that Iran will want to talk soon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It caused some experts to suggest his open aversion to foreign entanglement and military conflict had sent a signal to Tehran that it had free rein in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRecent intelligence is real and the UK is concerned about it,\u201d said regional analyst Kyle Orton.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTehran has moved from merely monitoring Western installations to an more active phase. We saw it play out on attacks on shipping this week. There\u2019s no serious doubt that Iran was behind them. It\u2019s a case of whether Iran will go back to asserting itself in the front line which is iraq.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He said President Trump\u2019s publicly-stated isolationism was emboldening Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIran has very little restraint right now. It already has what it wants on the ground, and is already able to take cities in Iraq and southern Syria, even on Israel\u2019s border,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUS policy has been to focus only on ISIS. Centcom (Coalition central command) said last year that if Iran wanted to take Eastern Syria, that would be okay.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople in his administration realise he\u2019s not going to do anything serious other than try to get what he calls a \u2018better deal\u2019. So Pompeo\u2019s rhetoric can take him only so far.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd there are those close to the Iranian regime who say one of the reasons Iran has acted at all against the Trump administration\u2019s rhetorical escalations is to force him to show his hand. They\u2019re calling his bluff.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n