LONDON: An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Monday that USvessels patrolling the Gulf had changed behaviour and now abided byinternational regulations.
Rear Admiral Ali Ozmaei’s remarks cited by Tasnim news agency followed lastweek’s comments by US military officials that the Iranian military hadhalted routine “harassment” of US naval vessels in the Gulf.
Each state accuses the other of having flouted international regulations inthe sea area, which is a major trade route for oil.
In recent years, there have been periodic confrontations between theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and US military in the Gulf.
“We see that Americans behaviour has changed. They pay more attention tointernational regulations and avoid approaching Iran’s territorial waters,”Ozmaei, the Guards’ fifth naval district commander, said.
In the first such confrontation since President Donald Trump took office, aUS Navy ship fired warning shots when an Iranian vessel approached towithin 450 feet (140 meters) last July.
The following month an unarmed Iranian drone came within 100 feet (30meters) of a US Navy warplane as it prepared to land on an aircraft carrierin the Gulf.
During the presidential campaign last September, Trump said any Iranianvessel that harassed the US Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of thewater.” – Agencies