Operation Prime Chance

Significance

Operation Prime Chance was a U.S. Special Operations Command mission launched to protect American-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack during the Iran–Iraq War. It ran concurrently with Operation Earnest Will, the broader naval escort effort moving Kuwaiti tankers through the Persian Gulf under U.S. flags. The operation was initiated in direct response to the mining of the Bridgeton, one of the reflagged Kuwaiti tankers, which demonstrated the vulnerability of commercial shipping to Iranian interdiction. Together, these operations reflected U.S. intervention in the Gulf to keep oil shipping lanes open and counter Iranian pressure during the war's later stages.