A US Nuclear Submarine has just arrived in Iceland for the first time in history. That can only mean one thing: Giuk

When 2025 United States began, a word incessantly repeated: Greenland. There was no appearance of Trump where he did not slide that Washington was interested in getting the small nation, even for the bad. Behind, of course, There was much more that an occurrence, because the island is part of a Western strategic edge that he shares with the United Kingdom and Iceland.

Interestingly, the first nuclear submarine in the US has just come to stay.

First nuclear scale. Yes, by first time In history, a nuclear propulsion submarine in the United States has docked in Iceland. He USS Newport Newsa fast attack unit Los Angeles classarrived in Reykiavik in a movement that underlines the growing strategic importance of the Arctic in a context of Geopolitical tensions increasingly acute.

The Icelandic government only began to allow the entry of nuclear submarines in its territorial waters in 2023and this inaugural visit is part of an increasingly narrow cooperation pattern with Washington and NATO. The American navy presented the event as A “decisive moment” which reaffirms its commitment to collective defense and maritime security of the Arctic, while American diplomats in Reykiavik stressed that the operation has been carried out in full Coordination with Icelandcountry that does not have its own naval forces and depends on the allied umbrella for protection.

Giuk. It We count A few months ago. The geostrategic background of the event is closely linked to the call Giuk runner (Between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom), a strip of key waters through which routinely submarines of the Russian north fleet, including the advanced yasen-m Cruise missile carriers. The location of Iceland makes the island a vital control point to follow these vessels before they are hidden in the vast Atlantic and represent a potential threat to the east coast of the United States.

During the cold war, Iceland housed to the 57th Hunting Wing of the American Air Force at the Keflavik base, as well as maritime surveillance detachments With P-3 Orion aircraft. Currently, this surveillance persists with modern P-8a Poseidon and with NATO fighters that rotate to cover the Icelandic airspace. The Newport News stop adds to that renewed defense network, in a context where NATO has intensified protection of underwater infrastructure after alleged sabotage acts Russian In the Baltic which alerted about the vulnerability of vital cables and conduits.

And more. As We explainYes, let’s say Russia or China cross the corridor, its location would become extremely difficult, both because of the acoustic conditions of the underwater terrain and by oceanic vastness. Thus, from those hidden positions they could launch missile attacks against objectives in the east of the American continent.

In fact and in response to this, the United States formed in 2021 the so -called Task Group Greyhounda specialized group of anti -submarine destroyers Designed to counteract This specific threat. The American navy itself warned at the time that the east coast of the country already It was not a safe shelterunderlining the urgency of establishing surveillance and defense points in key areas such as Greenland.

The Russian answer. The truth is that Russia has proven to know very well the value of this corridor. In 2019, he organized its greatest naval exercise From the Cold War, sending at least ten submarines through the completely submerged Giuk gap, with the aim of Reach the Atlantic without being intercepted.

According to Norwegian mediathe intention was clear: to prove the capacity of the West to detect movements of his fleet and demonstrate that he could project power to the US coast. These exercises also fulfill a fund growing territorial presence.

A new stage. Beyond its symbolic value, the arrival of the Newport News represents an important operational step for the United States: to have a logistic support point for nuclear submarines in the Arctic without the need for move to Scotland or northern Norway. The ship, equipped with twelve vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk missiles and anti -submarine and anti -surface warfare systems, also provides surveillance and deterrence in a region where Russia has reinforced its naval presence and has increased its military activity near Finland.

Icelandic Foreign Ministry itself recognized that these visits contribute to continuous and efficient underwater surveillance that also protects critical infrastructures submerged in Icelandic waters. Since 2023, six American submarines They had already briefly entered the island waters for partial crew rotations, but this is the first stop in port, product of bilateral regulations prepared with discretion and based on similar agreements with other Nordic countries.

An emerging axis. The submarine scale is not an isolated case: in 2019, B-2 Spirit poachers They also used Iceland as an advanced base, which was a novelty for both aircraft and for the island. The ability to operate from austere locations has become a key principle of the American projection strategy.

Iceland, who for decades played a secondary role after the end of the cold war, is repositioning as a central node in the defensive device of NATO in the north, especially in front of the resurgence of the Russian underwater threat. This scale, therefore, is not only a naval operation, but a silent but unequivocal statement of intentions: the United States contemplates the Arctic as a theater of strategic competence in full boom, already Iceland as its new bastion.

Image | USN

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