Top US commanders to attend Senate, House hearings amid Iran war concerns
Washington: Top US commanders in the Indo-Pacific will attend Senate and House committee hearings at the Capitol in Washington next week, Congress’s website showed, amid concerns that the US-Israeli war against Iran could affect America’s focus on countering threats from China and North Korea.
Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, and US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson will testify before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on Tuesday (local time) and Wednesday, respectively, to discuss the US military posture and security challenges in the region, reports Yonhap news agency.
The hearings will follow reports that Washington has moved parts of its THAAD missile defence system in South Korea toward the Middle East, and has dispatched thousands of US Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Japan to the volatile region.
The reports came as concerns lingered that the Middle East conflict could weaken the US military’s focus on addressing the “pacing challenge” from an increasingly assertive China and tackling advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Last month, Michael Duffey, undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, said that “flexibility” in redeploying military assets to meet urgent needs across the world is a “tremendous” strength of a US defence system, while commenting on the reported redeployment of part of the THAAD system from South Korea.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command on Wednesday said that the US Navy guided-missile destroyer had intercepted and redirected an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Yesterday, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel tried to evade the US blockade after leaving Bandar Abbas, exiting the Strait of Hormuz, and transiting along the Iranian coastline,” the command said on X. “The guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) successfully redirected the vessel, which is heading back to Iran.”
Ten vessels have been turned around so far, with no ships having broken through the strait since the start of the US blockade on Monday, the command said.
Brad Cooper, chief of US Central Command, said Tuesday night on X that US forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.