Tel Aviv: The combat scenarios that the different navies are exercising in the big international naval drill now underway in the Gulf and Red sea regions are based on recent intelligence about the Iranian intentions. These are  aimed to get control on some major waterways. The intelligence comes from US and Israeli navies operating in the region.

According to the US Navy, the International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022, an 18-day biennial naval training event led by US Naval Forces Central Command, combines with exercise Cutlass Express (CE) led annually by US Naval Forces Europe-Africa in East African coastal regions and the West Indian Ocean.

The report in the US Navy website states that the combined training includes 9,000 personnel and up to 50 ships from more than 60 partner nations and international organizations operating across two regions.

“This level of representation demonstrates shared resolve in preserving the rules-based international order,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. “This is a unique opportunity to increase our capabilities and interoperability while strengthening maritime ties.”

According to the official release, IMX/CE 2022 is not only the largest multinational naval exercise in the Middle East but also the largest unmanned exercise in the world with more than 80 unmanned systems from 10 nations participating.

International naval forces participating in IMX/CE 2022 are divided into four geographical combined task forces led by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kenya and Oman. A combined task force called Task Force X was also established for conducting portions of the exercise focused on unmanned systems and artificial intelligence integration.

Cooper is the exercise commander and commodores from Pakistan and the United Kingdom serve as the deputy commander and vice commander respectively.

This is the seventh iteration of IMX since its establishment in 2012. Training evolutions during this year’s combined exercise will span across the Arabian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and North Indian ocean. The exercise is scheduled to conclude on February 17.

“The Israel Navy will join 60 naval fleets for the US Navy-led ‘IMX’ International Naval Exercise,” the IDF said. “For the first time, our Flotilla 3 & Underwater Warfare Unit will train with the US Fifth Fleet in the Red Sea. We look forward to strengthening security & global cooperation.”

The Israeli Navy’s underwater warfare unit (YLTAM) is in charge of performing underwater missions under extreme conditions.

According to Israeli sources, Iran has recruited fighters from its proxy countries and trained them to carry out naval attacks against ships passing through the main waterways of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea coming from the Arabian Sea. The naval terrorist force is subordinate to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards which provides appropriate funding, operational guidance and assignment of missions.

According to the same information, Quds Force opened training camps on the islands of Farur and Keshem (Faroe Islands) in the Arabian Sea (Persian Gulf) where, in special and dedicated facilities, recruits undergo the main naval training before embarking on their terrorist missions .

The same updated intelligence points to the fact that the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had set up a dedicated headquarters in Yemen whose role is to recruit fighters for the special naval militia they have formed and that Iran was sending to its territory to undergo special naval training courses along with fighters recruited in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The intelligence information indicate that after completing the naval training, the fighters return to their countries to organize the “naval units that will wait to receive its missions” directly from the Central Quds Force headquarters in Iran.

The site where the fighters receive their training as naval commando fighters is called the “Academy of Science and Marine Technology” named after Khamenei. The initiative to establish a proxy force to carry out naval missions throughout the Middle East came after the assassination of General Suleimanani in early 2020 after it became clear that their ground proxy forces had ceased to yield the hoped-for results and the need to compensate for the surprising decline.

The recently received intelligence shows that the proxy forces will initially concentrate mainly on the west coast of Yemen, the Red Sea region, where they will try to tail international shipping. At present, the terrorist activities in the Red Sea region north of Egypt, in Bab al-Mandab, are carried out by Houthi fighters with only poor success.

The decision to focus, initially, on the Red Sea region, stems mainly from the presence of active supply lines that transport weapons, ammunition and other combat equipment from Iran to Somalia and from there to the coasts of Yemen. According to world media reports, small boats called the Dow, which roam the waters of the Gulf of Oman, secretly enter the port of Jask, which is one of the most important ports in the array of proxy forces and loads, among other things, missiles, mines and naval mines, UAV parts And other combat equipment emanating from the Iranian military industrial plants of the Revolutionary Guards

In November, the Israeli Navy participated in a fifth fleet led exercise in the Red Sea, alongside the UAE and Bahrain in what Israeli officials said was meant to serve as a response to recent attacks by Iran against Israeli naval assets.