Supposed to be a RAAF Wedgetail E7-A deployed to the UAE.
RAAF Deployment

It was quietly announced, that we also deployed a Sabre, or one third of our SAS special forces
It is such a low profile, going by his statements, it seems Trump doesn't even know

Couldn't we have deployed a Super Sabre at least?

The next step would be to deploy our stuff from Talisman Sabre

Overnight there have been more ships added to the proverbial "line in the sand" just inside the Strait of Hormuz from Khasab to Ramchah. A small channel is open close to Larak Island, which is very heavily fortified and relatively undamaged during the original attacks by the US and Israel.

The positioning of the ships is such that nothing will get through, they are using a zipper like alternating pattern, bow to stern with a slight overlap all the way up that line.

The anchorage for Ras-al-Khaimah has now been almost completely cleared. Iranian patrol boats (not skiffs) were herding ships and they had warnings over their radio to move away from the line of ships put in place. There are confirmed reports of commercial shipping that was slow to react were fired upon. The commercial ships are now using Sharjah and Dubai anchorages.

The anchorage for Fujairah is now virtually empty - again Iranian fast craft were herding ships away, one ship was hit and, of course, later in the day the port was hit. The Gulf of Oman from Muscat to the entrance of the Strait is very quiet.....yesterday there were many many ships at anchor at Khor Fakkan and Fujairah anchorages and they have all largely gone into extremely tight groups offshore

An example of this.....some of the pale blue arrows are Iranian patrol type boats.....these ships are being herded, whether as some sort of target or not remains to be seen but none appear able to leave. The first image is that of one such group of ships, the other is showing where they are in relation to Khor Fakkan (there is a second such group in the image too). I am hoping they are not being used as a form of hostage taking by the Iranians but at this point you cannot tell one way or the other. You'll notice that most of the commercial ships are pointing their bow outwards.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....99532aedf5.png
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5b5bd25a9f.png


The anchorages within the Persian Gulf of Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Dubai....the majority of the ships now seen on the Sharjah and Dubai anchorages this morning were at Ras al Khaimah yesterday morning


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....81646edb2f.png

The number of VLCC and oil products tankers in both areas and on both sides of the Strait of Hormuz, if hit, would be not only a humanitarian but an ecological disaster.

At the entrance to the Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandab there is still skiff interference going on.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ae401b93d2.png
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UKMTO are listing a reported ship on fire at Mina Saqr anchorage yesterday, image below of where that is in relation to Ras al Khaimah (the circled area is Mina Saqr). This would tie into the ships being ordered to move south from Ras al Khaimah by VHF broadcasts from Iran yesterday and reports of shots being fired by Iran. The anchorage at Mina Saqr was heavy with ships 24 hours ago, now just a handful remain.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3b40e8be3f.png
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c3b5f78cd2.png

In relation to minesweepers.....HMS Brocklesby along with 4 newly refitted Ukrainian minesweepers are being prepared... UNS Mariupol (formerly Belgian Navy BNS Narcis), UNS Melitopol (formerly Dutch Navy HMLMS Vlaardingen) plus 2 former British Royal Navy ships (formerly HMS Shoreham and HMS Grimsby) UNS Chernihiv and UNS Cherkasy. Ukraine has already offered to assist in mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz since their ships, currently in Portsmouth, cannot go home due to ongoing hostilities in the Black Sea and Turkey blocking entry to the Black Sea to all military shipping. The Ukrainian crews have been training with the British Royal Navy for almost a year and to NATO standard.

The USN used to have 4 minesweepers based in Bahrain but they were decommissioned late last year. There are only 4 left and I believe they are based in Japan.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ecac6f80d3.png

Link to a BonnieLass post in the JB Iran thread.

Worth monitoring her posts on the maritime situation.

https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/650...l#post12081372

Doesn't appear to be any confirmation of the report that the UAE attacked Iran

Thanks Bonnielass for the updates, keep them coming!!

There is possibly an escapee.

Interstellar.

She is a sistership to New Fusion which escaped despite being on the US sanctions list, she is now anchored in one of the huddles I posted above off Fujairah. Interstellar seems to be making a run for it, her AIS appears to be either delayed or perhaps turned off. Both ships were part of the Torm fleet and are about 20 years old.

When New Fusion made transit a few days ago she was showing a destination of Singapore, she is showing Fujairah anchorage now. Interstellar is showing Singapore as her destination.....effectively matching her sister. There is no word as yet as to whether Interstellar is also subject to US sanction but both ships are known to carry Iranian oil / oil products.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....56872a64f1.png
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b88066ced6.png

I shall keep an eye on Interstellar as she transits and if she joins her sister off Fujairah or heads towards the Far East.

Another ship that came under US sanctions, LB Energy, that left the Iranian port of Bandar Imam Khomeini on April 19, 2026 is heading towards Moroni Anchorage, Comoros


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....67d635e863.png

For three ships under US sanction...I think Interstellar will be and New Fusion and LB Energy were confirmed as such....the US sanctions or blockade of Iranian ports does not seem to be working.

Reference post 5664 above. (Speculation in the second last link is the author's - not mine.)

Video

In relation to minesweepers.....HMS Brocklesby along with 4 newly refitted Ukrainian minesweepers are being prepared... UNS Mariupol (formerly Belgian Navy BNS Narcis), UNS Melitopol (formerly Dutch Navy HMLMS Vlaardingen) plus 2 former British Royal Navy ships (formerly HMS Shoreham and HMS Grimsby) UNS Chernihiv and UNS Cherkasy. Ukraine has already offered to assist in mine clearance in the Strait of Hormuz since their ships, currently in Portsmouth, cannot go home due to ongoing hostilities in the Black Sea and Turkey blocking entry to the Black Sea to all military shipping. The Ukrainian crews have been training with the British Royal Navy for almost a year and to NATO standard.

The USN used to have 4 minesweepers based in Bahrain but they were decommissioned late last year. There are only 4 left and I believe they are based in Japan.

Another E-3G en-route to PSAB....
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a574b9eeb2.png
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Probably, once the agreement on the force offerings are ironed out. NAVCENT and CENTCOM would certainly fold air cover into any coalition Op Plan.
Unless something changes, I think we'll see another postponement.
NATO standard in this case is pretty good.
There used to be an MCMFORMED in NATO's southern region, which had annual exercises.
It was renamed Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) and is currently led by Greek Navy Captain Dimitrios Karamoutzogiannis.

The question I'd have is: would NATO collectively choose to offer that standing Naval force for an out of area operation, or would a separate task force be formed for such an operation? I suspect the latter, or, NATO collectively would not agree (among the 30 Plus Nations) to use a NATO formation and whomever wished to participate would do so under an ad hoc multinational coalition which could open up participation to other nations, such as the Indian Navy...

I believe that there is a group being formed comprising of both NATO and non NATO countries that will be headed by the French and British. There have been several meetings of defence ministers and heads of State (not including the US, they are not party to the proposed group) and moves are afoot to bring about a multinational type task force once hostilities are truly over in the Persian Gulf region. Those involved have made it clear that they will not participate in any offensive aspect, they will only deal with getting things back up and running afterwards.

Tbh I find it sad and unfortunate that the US is not party to this plan, but at the same time I totally understand why the US has been left out of it given the contempt shown towards NATO and non NATO Allies.

At the moment in the Gulf of Oman, there are Pakistani and Indian warships patrolling along an almost territorial type line tween Muscat and Gwadar. There are also Portugese warships in the area that are patrolling the sea lanes from Salalah to Bab-el-Mandab. There may be other nationalities of warships in the region but they are not registering on AIS.

In relation to Bab-el-Mandab, there are two Russian tankers following each other, the Krasnoyarsk and Kareliya. An odd thing is they both left northern ports (Barents Sea / Baltic area) but are coming from Persian Gulf area, perhaps shadow fleet maybe. They both should be under sanction.

It makes the 'cease fire' similar to the Hamas/Israeli 'cease fires': a cease fire is declared but they keep on shooting at each other.

The UAE seems to have decided that their / US / Israel interceptor magazine depth is not large enough to sit still on the receiving end. But will it be large enough now that they have changed stance ?