The US Navy’s Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine USS Newport News has called at a port in Iceland for the first time, a move that may reflect Washington and NATO’s concern over Russia’s growing military activity in the Arctic, EDnews reports, citng the Business Insider.
Adm. Stuart Munsch, commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, told the website that the submarine’s port call in Iceland is "important for the strategic signal it sends to adversaries about our [US] presence in the area" and also boosts confidence among US allies.
The portal notes that Washington views Iceland as a centerpiece of its Arctic strategy. "The US, for many decades, maintained a naval air base here," Munsch stated, adding that the site was used to "track Soviet submarine operations, then Russian submarine operations."
Business Insider points out that in 2023, a US nuclear-powered submarine had already entered Iceland’s territorial waters, but this time the USS Newport News docked at the pier and its crew disembarked.
