Iceland has authorized U.S. submarines to make service visits to the country, it said in a news release on Tuesday. Such visits have long been made in allied countries like Norway, and more recently the Faroe Islands, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. The government described service visits as those required to receive supplies or to rotate crews. “These service visits will contribute to strengthening the continuous and active submarine surveillance of allied countries, which ensures better situational awareness and increases the safety of underwater infrastructure such as submarine cables in the waters around Iceland,” the ministry said. Iceland says allowing the submarine visits builds on increasing cooperation between Washington and Reykjavik on North Atlantic cooperation.
