Iran Denies Firing Rockets Near US Aircraft Carrier

The vital strait, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is the route for almost a third of all oil traded by sea, is crucial for ships taking part in the war against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

On Dec. 30, the United States accused Iran of conducting a “highly provocative” rocket test in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has denounced possible new U.S. sanctions on his country which could jeopardize a hard-won nuclear deal due to be finally implemented within weeks.

Iran denied on Thursday that its Revolutionary Guards launched rockets near the USA aircraft-carrier Harry S. Truman and other warships as they were entering the Gulf on Saturday.

Although the missiles were fired in a direction away from the passing coalition ships, the live-fire exercise was dangerously close to the Truman.

A United States military official claimed that while the Iranians did not appear to be targeting any specific ships with the exercise, their actions were “unnecessarily provocative and unsafe”.

Tabnak said that Western news reports about the episode were an attempt to “undermine Iran’s capability to provide regional marine safety”.

Since the accord was struck, Iran s military has conducted missile tests that were condemned by the US.

While transiting the strait that sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the USS Harry S. Truman had the encounter while the IRGC was conducting a live-fire exercise in the area on Saturday, according to Cmdr.

The dispute comes after Iran and six world powers, including the United States, reached a deal in July that will remove certain U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iran accepting curbs on its nuclear programme.

However, the sanctions come in response to Iran’s ballistic missile testing in October and November, which caused both Congressional Republicans and Democrats to call for action.

Following the Fox News report of the second ballistic missile launch, U.S. Sen.

Such a move by the US Treasury Department would be the first American sanctions against Iran since the nuclear agreement.

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain.

“Americans have entered the Persian Gulf with their entire military might, but Iran’s fast-patrol boats have authority over them”, an Iranian naval commander, Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, was quoted as saying by the Islamic Student News Agency Monday.

Some lawmakers also are pushing for Congress to renew an expiring Iran sanctions law, as leverage in case the US needs to snap back sanctions should Iran violate the deal. Iran also recently aired television footage of an underground missile base.