Pentagon reveals nuclear submarine roaming in Middle Eastern waters

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The US military shockingly revealed that its top commander for the Middle East, General Erik Kurilla, was on a US ballistic missile submarine in the Arabian Sea for about eight hours on Wednesday at an undisclosed location in international waters.

The USS West Virginia is one of the long-range submarines of the US Navy's Ohio Class, part of the country's nuclear triad, which can launch nuclear missile strikes and carry up to 20 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with multiple warheads. It is one of six ballistic-missile submarines stationed at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia. 

This is considered a very rare move by the Pentagon regarding the location of its nuclear-powered submarines, which are not often roaming in the Middle East, according to AP. The head of the US Navy Admiral Mike Gilday issued a warning this week for the American military to be prepared for the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2024, followed by comments of the Secretary of State Antony Blinken adding that China was "determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline" with the island. 

Steven Pifer, former US ambassador to Ukraine tweeted: "When @usnavy ballistic missile submarine surfaces and a geographic combatant command puts out notice of its location a message is being sent to someone,"

When @usnavy ballistic missile submarine surfaces and a geographic combatant command puts out notice of its location a message is being sent to someone. https://t.co/s6qkGNQoI2

— Steven Pifer (@steven_pifer) October 21, 2022

Pifer, when asked who the message was intended to, told Newsweek: "I'm still trying to figure that out. Could be a two-fer—a message to both Moscow and Beijing to remind them of US strategic capabilities."

Kurilla convened with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of the US Navy's 5th Fleet, on the submarine after being shown a "hands-on demonstration" of the capabilities of the vessel, as the former described it as part of the "crown jewel of the nuclear triad", which exhibited "flexibility, survivability, readiness, and capability of USCENTCOM and USSTRATCOM forces at sea."

The visit comes in light of annual nuclear drills by NATO in northwestern Europe involving fighter jets able to carry nuclear warheads and long-range B-52 bombers.

NATO insisted that Operation Steadfast Noon had been planned for a while and claimed it has not been linked to the war in Ukraine, but Katarzyna Zysk of the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies previously told Newsweek that the exercises lasting until October 30 and entailing 14 alliance members, intends to maintain "the credibility of deterrence and defense," of the NATO.