TEHRAN – A US aircraft carrier sailed into the Persian Gulf on Friday amidIranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, the only sea passage fromthe Gulf to the open ocean and strategic waterway linking the Middle Eastcrude producers to crucial world markets.
Some 30 Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels fired rockets in the waterspatrolled by a US aircraft carrier strike group led by USS John C. Stennison Friday, AP reported. At one point, one small ship launched what lookedlike a “commercial-grade” drone to film the US vessels, the media outletwrote, adding that journalists on the Stennis were also filming the Iranianboats, Sputnik has reported.
There were no immediate reports of the Stennis’ arrival in the PersianGulf in Iranian media. The Stennis-led group was deployed on 8 December,thus ending the longest period in two decades that a carrier group wasabsent from the region. The vessels took part in a joint naval exercisewith the Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) on 12 December in the ArabianSea.
Earlier on Friday, Mehr News Agency quoted Brigadier General MohammadPakpour, commander of IRG ground forces, as saying that the final stageof the “Great Prophet 12″ drills would kick off on Saturday and include”rapid reaction units, airborne units, demolition and combat units,mid-range missiles and the third marine division”.
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Tensions between the two countries have further escalated since USPresident Donald Trump announced the decision to withdraw from the 2015Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nucleardeal, which saw anti-Iran sanctions lifted in exchange for Tehranmaintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.
