In a rare announcement, the US military said a guided missile submarine has arrived in the Middle East, a message of deterrence clearly directed at regional adversaries as the Biden administration tries to avoid a broader conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war.
US Central Command said on social media Sunday that an Ohio-class submarine was entering its area of responsibility. A picture posted with the announcement appeared to show the sub in the Suez Canal northeast of Cairo.
The social media post did not name the sub, but the US Navy has four Ohio-class guided missile submarines, or SSGNs, which are former ballistic missile subs converted to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles rather than nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
As soon as the attack on October the 7th happened, the US essentially panicked, as this would probably result in instability in the whole region with possible Iranian intervention. They already have an aircraft carrier and several destroyers. They have a whole fleet near Iran if I’m not mistaken (in international waters, obviously). On the other hand, they’re publicly telling Israel not to escalate the conflict. Clearly the last thing Biden wants is for the violence to spread out
I think it’s in response to this event specifically:
IDF Arrow intercepts ballistic missile fired from Yemen
Probably making a public stayment about the submarine was intended as a direct threat against this group and any others with similar intentions. The message is basically “stop that or we wil stop you”.
Tomahawks would be the weapon of choice for destroying land-based ballistic missile launching systems.