Map of the Straits of Hormuz. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Navy will start accompanying U.S.-flagged vessels through the Straits of Hormuz over concerns that Iran could try to seize the ships, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.

The announcement came two days after a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

While the U.S. maintains a naval presence in the area, with a massive military base in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain, the new plan would have U.S. flagged vessels always within eyeshot.

A defense official told Reuters that the plan to accompany ships through the narrow straits between Oman on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula and Iran would last for a limited time.