According to the Biden administration's intelligence assessment, Iran does not seek a "wider war" in the Middle East against Israel or its allies. Still, Tehran's stated position does not mean the regime's terror proxies have been checking their fire. Without being deterred, Iran — through its proxies — is certain to continue escalating attacks on Israeli and American targets. The Biden administration's response to attacks on U.S. troops and vessels in the Middle East has been lacking in terms of stopping the assaults, but it needn't be that way — as President Reagan demonstrated after the Iranian mining of a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf.
Hamas continues launching rocket barrages into Israel, Hezbollah carries on with its aggression to Israel's north, Houthi rebels in Yemen ramp up hostilities toward ocean vessels including U.S. Navy ships, and more than 70 attacks targeting U.S. troops on bases in Iraq and Syria have been carried out by Iran's other proxies.
This, however, is not the first time American service members have faced aggression or the prospect of harm as a result of the leadership in Tehran.
Back in April 1988, the Navy's USS Samuel B. Roberts — an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate — hit an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf, blowing the ship open and leaving it with critical damage that should have sent it to the depths. Its valiant crew, however, fought for five hours against fires and flooding to save the ship.
According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, a total of "[t]en Sailors from Samuel B. Roberts sustained severe injuries" including four who were "seriously burned" while "Commander Paul X. Rinn was hurt as well." Still, "thanks to an extraordinary damage control effort by all hands of an extremely well-trained crew, Samuel B. Roberts was kept afloat" and continued to sail until it was decommissioned in 2015.
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In response, President Reagan launched Operation Praying Mantis: "the largest of five major U.S. Navy surface actions since World War II... the first, and so far only, time the U.S. Navy has exchanged surface-to-surface missile fire with an enemy, and it resulted in the largest warship sunk by the U.S. Navy since WWII."
Praying Mantis took just one day to complete, and the American forces sunk half of Iran's Navy. "The early morning retaliatory strikes provoked the Iranians into the direct naval confrontation they had sought to avoid," recalled naval historian Michael Palmer in "Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control since the Sixteenth Century."
#OTD in 1988, the U.S. Navy engaged in its largest surface battle since WWII when it launched Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian targets. The operation was in retaliation to the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf that had severely damaged the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts. pic.twitter.com/bZB5P0CWp4
— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) April 18, 2023
"The surface and air engagements cost the Iranians about half of their operational navy" and "demonstrated America's new striking power in surface warfare," Palmer wrote.
Sinking half Iran's Navy was a strong and decisive response ordered by President Reagan, the answer to the mining of one U.S. vessel that failed to sink it — but that's the kind of strength needed to show that the United States doesn't mess around and won't tolerate attacks on its forces. At the time, Reagan was clear: "They must know that we will protect our ships, and if they threaten us, they'll pay a price."
Reagan backed up his message of deterrence with overt military action, and it succeeded in tamping down Iranian aggression for a time.
Now, Biden's reaction to Iran-backed attacks on U.S. troops has been anything but strong — which is why attacks keep happening and will continue to happen until Biden gives Iran a reason to call off its terrorist dogs.
