[양낙규의 Defence Club]Will the Cheonghae unit be put into rescue operation?

[이미지출처=연합뉴스]

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[아시아경제 양낙규 군사전문기자]As Choi Young-ship (4400t class) of the Cheonghae unit arrives in the waters near the Strait of Hormuz, attention is being paid to the execution of the rescue operation. This is because the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were dispatched to respond to the arrest of Korean national chemical carriers, but if the safety of our people is threatened, the execution of the operation cannot be ruled out.

A government official said, “To protect the safety of our people, negotiations through diplomatic channels rather than military actions have priority,” he said. “We have confirmed the safety of sailors and are asking Iran to cancel early detention of ships.”

The Cheonghae unit was dispatched to the Strait of Hormuz in an independent operation. The dispatch area of ​​the Cheonghae unit extends from the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Arabia (Persian Gulf), and under the command of the ROK military, it performs the mission of protecting the people and ships. It is a form of’reader dispatch’ that does not participate in the IMSC (International Maritime Security Initiative and Hormuz Escort Association) that the US hopes. The same goes for Japan. Japan decided to dispatch one frigate belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Forces and one P-3C patrol aircraft (with a capacity of 260 troops) to the Middle East seas in a way that would not participate in the escort alliance.

However, diplomatic negotiations could be entangled if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz as a stumbling block for US economic sanctions. In and out of the Strait of Hormuz, in early May 2019, with the increase of the US military’s front end of aircraft carriers and bombers, four tankers were attacked (May 12), followed by the attack of two oil tankers (June 12), and the U.S. military unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was shot down ( June 20), Iran’s detention of oil tankers (July 14), and other adverse events erupted one after another. It is analyzed that after the crisis in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when oil tankers in the Gulf waters were targeted as the target of attack, it was called the’oil tanker war’.

If the Strait of Hormuz is blocked, the United States could mobilize its allies to put into action the formation of the Hormuz Safety Alliance. The two B-52s, the representative strategic bombers of the United States, launched in the Gulf waters in December of last year, demonstrating the United States’ long-range operational capabilities. The US nuclear-powered submarine then passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a crude oil transport route in the Persian Gulf. It is interpreted that the US continues its armed demonstrations to increase military deterrence in the situation where the first cycle of the death of former Commander Soleimani is approaching. Former Commander Soleymani, a former commander of Iran’s military office, considered to be second to the top leader of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a U.S. armed unmanned air raid on Iraq in early January last year.

If the situation in Iran worsens, the United States may ask our military to join the Hormuz Safety Alliance. Or, our military may ask the coalition for help to rescue the captured citizens. However, since our military is not dealing with pirates like Operation Aden Bay, we have to make a careful decision. The Iranian Elite Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) belongs to the regular army. Conflict between countries is inevitable if rescue operations are conducted against regular forces.

Reporter Yang Nak-gyu [email protected]