What new CENTCOM commander means for Middle East power balance
Navy admiral known for diplomatic acumen has taken charge of all American forces in the Middle East amid uncertainty about Washington’s ability to avoid further entanglements following the Iran-Israel war.
WASHINGTON — Within his first year at the helm of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in 2021, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper faced a dilemma.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was continuing to hand off packages of missile guidance systems, cheap attack drone components, rockets and Soviet-style small arms to smugglers piloting dhows off Iran’s southern coast.
The IRGC’s arms trafficking to Yemen wasn’t new. But the Fifth Fleet’s ability to monitor and intercept the shipments had waned as the Pentagon once again began directing major assets to the Pacific to deter China’s increasing provocations against Taiwan.
“We just didn't have the assets,” Capt. Michael Brasseur (ret.), who worked on the problem with the Fifth Fleet commander, told Al-Monitor.
