Twenty nations to stage anti-mining exercise in Middle East Mid September.

Twenty nations to stage anti-mining exercise in Middle East Mid September.(UI).The U.S. Defense Department has announced that 20 nations will stage a joint anti-mining exercise in multiple waterways in the region on 16-27 September. The exercise will focus on countermeasures against any threats, presumably from Iran, to mine the strategic waterways. (Associated Press)
“This is a defensive exercise aimed at preserving freedom of navigation in the international waterways of the Middle East and aimed at promoting regional stability,” Defense Department spokesman George Little told reporters on Tuesday. (AP, 18 July)
The exercise will practice mine countermeasures in multiple waterways. It will demonstrate "the international community's ability to work together to ensure free and secure trade," said CENTCOM Commander Gen. James Mattis.
Word of the exercise follows Monday’s announcement that the U.S. Navy will deploy aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea in September. The Pentagon also recently doubled the number of minesweepers in the region. And it sent the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport dock recently retrofitted to become an afloat forward staging base in the Persian Gulf.
The Pentagon has not released the name of the other nations participating in the exercise, leaving it to individual countries to make the announcement.Hmmm....Expect the Belgium and The netherlands to be among them in view of their long 'expertise' in mine sweeping ops.Read the full story here.