Black Tiger III, 2015

A Fictional February, 2015 After beating Senator Obama in the race for the White House in 2008, second-term President Ronald Taggart has maintained U. S. involvement on the ground in Iraq until early 2015, at which time the remaining U. S. ground forces are withdrawing through Kuwait. The last marines have embarked in the USS Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group, which will soon be transiting the Strait of Hormuz to head back home. Carrier Strike Group THREE, centered on USS Carl Vinson, is finishing up a strenuous 7 month deployment and will be transiting with the Tarawa ESG. Unfortunately, the Iranians have been far more belligerent lately than in past months. Harsh economic sanctions are taking a toll, and tensions continue to rise over their ongoing nuclear program. A stagnant economy and the falling price of oil has put them in an economic quagmire. A resurgent Russia has aligned itself closely with Tehran, also beset economically by low oil prices. It is not lost on anyone that strife in the Persian Gulf is something sure to send oil prices back up- as well as a way for Russia's strongman president to make life difficult for his old nemesis, the United States, by using Iran as a proxy of sorts. In the past two days, several incidents have increased tensions to the boiling point. Iranian fighters have harrassed U. S. maritime patrol aircraft and flown aggressively in the airspace surrounding the two naval groups. Even worse, several missile-armed gunboats fought a surface action against the 5th Fleet on the night of February 6th. Although Iran claims that the boats were manned by Al Quaeda insurgents and that they had nothing to do with the incident, intelligence sources believe the craft involved were actually Iranian naval units flying under false colors, and the diplomatic fallout hasn't stopped yet. This afternoon, Carrier Strike Group THREE will stand on station just west of the Strait of Hormuz, watching tensely as the TARAWA group makes the transit.