Connect with us

World

Iran says its small subs deployed to Strait of Hormuz as expert explains threat: ‘Vulnerable to detection’

Published

on

Iran says its small subs deployed to Strait of Hormuz as expert explains threat: ‘Vulnerable to detection’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Iran says it has deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz amid a series of rejected peace deals between Tehran and the U.S., according to reports.

Advertisement

The deployment claim came as analysts said that although the Iranian Ghadir-class mini-subs could threaten U.S. naval forces, the vessels’ limited range, firepower and endurance would blunt any real strategic impact.

The submarine deployment was highlighted by Bloomberg and first reported by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, commander of Iran’s navy, said that his forces deployed its light submarine, referred to as the “dolphins of the Persian Gulf,” according to the Iranian state media outlet.

IRAN TURNS TO PUTIN AS US TALKS COLLAPSE, HORMUZ STANDOFF THREATENS GLOBAL OIL FLOW

Iran claims that it has deployed small submarines to act as an “invisible guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz. (Vahid Reza Alaei / AFP via Getty Images, File)

Advertisement

It also comes as Tehran seeks to reinforce its control over the strait, now defining it as a far larger zone, Reuters reported.

“Time would be limited, probably a couple of days at the most,” defense analyst Tom Shugart told Fox News Digital about the Iranian vessel deployment.

The retired U.S. Navy submarine warfare officer also said the small diesel-electric submarines face fundamental operational constraints.

IRAN HOLDS WORLD ENERGY HOSTAGE WITH ‘NIGHTMARE’ STRAIT OF HORMUZ SEA MINES, FORMER CENTCOM OFFICIAL WARNS

U.S. Marines aboard USS New Orleans (LPD 18) stand watch in the Arabian Sea during naval blockade operations against Iran. (U.S. Central Command)

Advertisement

“If they run their diesel engines to snorkel and recharge batteries, that could generate sound that could be detected,” Shugart said.

“Their snorkel mast projecting from the water could be detected by radars on patrol aircraft or helicopters,” Shugart added.

The submarines are said to be designed for shallow waters like the Strait of Hormuz and can operate quietly for limited periods on battery power.

“While they may be able to sit on the bottom for a while and operate somewhat quietly on their batteries for a while, they have no air-independent propulsion system (AIP) like more modern diesel-electric submarines,” Shugart said before adding that they’ll, “eventually have to come up and snorkel. This will make them more vulnerable to detection and destruction.”

INSIDE IRAN’S MILITARY: MISSILES, MILITIAS AND A FORCE BUILT FOR SURVIVAL

Advertisement

A navy vessel sails in the Strait of Hormuz. (Sahar Al Attar / AFP via Getty Images)

The IRGC Navy is said to be the sole operator of this class of submarine, all of which serve in the Southern Fleet.

“Any remaining Ghadirs, if they exist and are actually deployed, may be able to lay mines and may be able to threaten merchant ships,” Shugart warned.

“But I don’t see them as a serious threat to U.S. Navy warships — and certainly not to U.S. submarines,” he said.

“But I can say for sure that I wouldn’t want to go out on one in the current environment.”

Advertisement

HORMUZ CHOKE POINT PERSISTS AS IRAN HALTS OIL TRAFFIC DESPITE TRUMP CEASEFIRE

The U.S. Navy confirmed May 10 that a U.S. Navy Ohio-class nuclear-armed submarine had arrived in Gibraltar.

“The port visit demonstrates U.S. capability, flexibility and continuing commitment to its NATO allies,” U.S. Sixth Fleet Public Affairs said in a statement.

“Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines are undetectable launch platforms for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, providing the U.S. with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad,” it added.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Meanwhile, Shugart’s remarks came as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, with commercial tanker traffic largely choked off amid ongoing military activity and the continued U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

The United Arab Emirates and South Korea reported new strikes on stranded vessels Wednesday, while the IRGC increased its fast-attack craft activity, according to reports.

President Donald Trump has maintained Iran’s navy is “completely obliterated.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Advertisement

World

Baltic presidents warn of Russian infrastructure attack plans

Published

on

Baltic presidents warn of Russian infrastructure attack plans
By&nbspGreta Ruffino&nbspwith&nbspAFP

Published on

Russia is planning attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic states or Poland, Lithuanian and Latvian presidents warned on Wednesday, citing intelligence reports.

ADVERTISEMENT


ADVERTISEMENT

“We are talking about energy and transport infrastructur, facilities where damage could… disrupt the functioning of the entire energy system,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said at a joint press conference in Vilnius with his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics.

Advertisement

“This planning is taking place at the highest level, effectively in Moscow,” he added.

Rinkevics warned that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all EU and NATO members, must be prepared for provocative actions by Russia as it seeks to “test” the alliance’s mutual defence pact amid its war in Ukraine.

“Even without a total Ukrainian victory, Russia may indirectly test Article 5 and response mechanisms at the alliance and European Union levels,” he said.

In late June, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a press conference “various types of escalation can be expected in the coming weeks and months”, calling the situation “very unstable”.

Baltic and Polish officials have already linked Russia to several incidents including arson, cyberattacks and diversions on railway lines.

Advertisement

The Lithuanian president said his country had strengthened protection of its transport and energy infrastructure in response to the threats.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the claims.

“This is just another fresh batch of scare stories designed to keep the brainwashing going and prepare the population for further militarisation,” he said.

Located along the Baltic Sea and bordering Russia and its close ally, Belarus, Lithuania has been a key ally to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Lithuania is NATO’s highest security spender in relative terms, allocating 5.33%of its GDP to defence.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

World

FBI snares an American heir indicted for allegedly bankrolling anti-cop, pro-Hamas communist revolution

Published

on

FBI snares an American heir indicted for allegedly bankrolling anti-cop, pro-Hamas communist revolution

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Justice Department and FBI have a new communist financier in their crosshairs for alleged financial crimes: James “Fergie” Cox Chambers Jr., the estranged bad-boy heir to the Cox cable empire.

On Friday, Spanish police detained Chambers on the luxury island of Ibiza, in response to an international arrest warrant, according to sources. Chambers is allegedly wanted for money laundering and providing support to Hamas, following years of financing anti-Israel and anti-West organizations and protests. The transnational network he helped fund and support is kicking in to cast him as a victim of the Trump administration’s “fascism,” while critics are cheering the arrest as long overdue.

A spokesman for Spain’s Balearic Islands police branch, which includes Ibiza in its jurisdiction, told Fox News Digital that a U.S. citizen was arrested on charges tied to an international arrest warrant Friday under an international arrest warrant seeking his extradition to the United States. The spokesman did not confirm the identity of the citizen, but sources told Fox News Digital that the individual is Chambers.

Fergie Chambers poses for pictures in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Advertisement

FBI SAYS NEW MISSION CENTER HAS IDENTIFIED ‘NEFARIOUS’ PROTEST FUNDING AND SUBJECTS

The police spokesman added that the individual is being held at the central jail in Ibiza pending a judicial decision that will be conducted by videoconference. Supporters now plan a “Free Fergie Chambers” protest on Tuesday at 7 p.m. outside the prison in Ibiza, demonstrating against “DEL FASCISMO DE TRUMP,” or the “TRUMP’S FASCISM IN PERSECUTING DEFENDERS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.”

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment. Chambers and his representatives couldn’t be reached for comment.

A convert to Islam, Chambers represents the fusion of socialist and communist activists with Islamist interests that seek the destruction of the West, free enterprise and the state of Israel and the rise of political Islam, communism and a new Palestinian state.

General view of Centro Penitenciario de Ibiza, in Ibiza, Spain, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.  (Photo for Fox News Digital)

Advertisement

Chambers’ ideological comrades leaked news of the detention to trusted colleagues on far-left media platforms – some of which Chambers funds – and his communist, socialist and Islamist comrades are flooding social media to frame the narrative around the arrest as the Trump administration unfairly targeting Chambers.

The arrest is a significant move by the Trump administration as it targets far-left financiers allegedly engaged in supporting political violence. In this case, as in other investigations, federal authorities are following the money and investigating potential tax and financial crimes.

FBI Co-Deputy Director Chris Raia recently told Fox News Digital that investigators at the FBI’s Joint Mission Center have identified subjects tied to financing violent protest activity and have been building prosecutable cases.

General view of Centro Penitenciario de Ibiza, in Ibiza, Spain, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.  (Photo for Fox News Digital)

Like Neville Roy Singham, the American tech tycoon accused of financing communist and far-left nonprofit organizations from his base in Shanghai, China, Chambers has made a name for himself as a financial backer of anti-Israel and anti-American causes around the world. As reported exclusively at Fox News Digital, the Justice Department has launched a grand jury investigation into Singham for alleged money laundering and other financial improprieties. It is currently prosecuting the Southern Poverty Law Center for alleged money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud.

Advertisement

DOJ LAUNCHES GRAND JURY PROBE INTO MARXIST MOGUL NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S FUNDING OF LEFTIST GROUPS

Fergie Chambers walks near a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers walks near a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers performs the Muslim prayer in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Fergie Chambers smokes a cigarette while posing for photos in Tunis, Tunisia. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Advertisement

Chambers was born in 1985 in Brooklyn as James Cox Chambers Jr. to his father, James Cox Chambers, and mother, actress Lauren Hamilton. He is the great-grandson of James M. Cox, a former Ohio governor, 1920 Democratic presidential nominee and founder of the media company that became Cox Enterprises. Forbes estimates the Cox family empire is worth about $27 billion.

Chambers is now the estranged heir of Cox Enterprises, walking away from the family company in 2023 with a payout estimated at about $250 million after a falling out with his family over the company’s support for Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center, known by critics as “Cop City.” In April, a grand jury indicted three alleged Antifa-linked protesters accused of throwing firebombs at the general contractor of the Atlanta police training center.

Protestors rush a police line during a demonstration against the so-called “Cop City” training facility in Atlanta, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)

Chambers openly redirected his fortune into communist collectives, bail and legal underwriting and groups engaged in hard-edged protest and property disruption.

Raised mostly in Brooklyn after his parents divorced, Chambers attended Saint Ann’s School and later enrolled at Bard College but didn’t graduate. He briefly worked for a Cox Enterprises subsidiary before operating gyms in Georgia and later became increasingly involved in left-wing activism following the anti-police protests in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 and the demonstrations in Standing Rock, S.D., in 2016 against an oil pipeline.

Advertisement

Around 2019, Chambers established the “Berkshire Communists” collective in Alford, Mass., in a wealthy corner of western Massachusetts, where he built a commune, operated the Berkshire People’s Gym and launched a publication called “Combat Liberalism.”

THREE ALLEGED ANTIFA-LINKED PROTESTERS INDICTED IN ATLANTA POLICE TRAINING CENTER CONTRACTOR FIREBOMBING

Police detain Palestine Action activists at the entrance of APCO Worldwide offices in London, where the building is covered in red paint, on Sept. 3, 2024. (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu)

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, Chambers became one of the most prominent financial backers of “Palestine Action,” later renamed “Unity of Fields,” while also funding legal defense efforts for activists involved in anti-Israel demonstrations and direct-action campaigns in the United Kingdom and the U.S.

He praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as a “moment of hope and inspiration,” told Mother Jones that “the most important thing for the prosperity of humanity is the destruction of the US” and said, “I chant death to America every day.”

Advertisement

Local and national reporting place him behind the “Stop Cop City” opposition, bail after occupations and protests against Elbit Systems, a company that provides services to Israel, in Merrimack, N.H., and the U.K., and ongoing legal support for networks in the U.S. and U.K. led by the controversial “Palestine Action.”

Communist tattoos are visible on Fergie Chambers’ hands and fingers while he sits in a cafe in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

After Alford, Mass., shut his Berkshire People’s Gym for zoning violations and law-enforcement scrutiny intensified, Chambers relocated to Tunis, in the North African nation of Tunisia.

In early February 2024, Chambers was photographed in his newly adopted city of Tunis in the North African nation of Tunisia, framing his narrative as a pious Muslim convert, with a red-and-white Palestinian kefiyyeh scarf draped over his shoulders, a black Muslim prayer cap on his head and a small beard on his face, a tradition that follows the sunnah, or practice, of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

The photo shoot included images of Chambers in Muslim prayer, at one point with his hands on his chest and at another point in “ruku” position, bent forward with his hands on his knees, staring at a point of concentration in front of him. In other shots, he walked by a local mosque, sat behind the wheel of a car with orange and green Muslim prayer beads, called “tazbi,” hanging on the rearview mirror. A pair of decorative boxing gloves with “RUSSIA” across the wrists, positioned on a red-and-white kefiyyeh spread along the dashboard.

Advertisement

Fergie Chambers walks his dogs in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb. 8, 2024. (Chedly Ben Ibrahim/NurPhoto)

Unconventional for traditional Muslims, who don’t often have dogs as pets because of a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that bars dogs as pets in the home, Chambers also was photographed smoking a cigarette and walking on the beach with two small dogs who look like bulldogs. He also wore tattoos, including a sickle-and-barbells on his left hand.

By May 2026, his social media posts placed him in Ireland. This month, the self-declared communist vacationed among the wealthy in Ibiza, is now sitting in prison.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

World

US says latest Iran strike wave over, IRGC claims damage to US Naval HQ

Published

on

US says latest Iran strike wave over, IRGC claims damage to US Naval HQ
Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending