Iran denies it fired rockets near U.S. warships in key strait

The U.S. military is accusing Iran of conducting a missile test in the Strait of Hormuz as warships involved in the fight against the Islamic State group passed by.

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, rejecting a United States report as “psychological warfare”.

Both the US and Iran insist the missile program is not part of a landmark agreement Tehran reached with world powers in July that is to lift global sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.

Google Maps/Amanda Macias/Business InsiderA map of the area where the incident is said to have taken placeSeveral Revolutionary Guard vessels fired the rockets “in close proximity” of the warships and nearby merchant traffic “after providing only 23 minutes of advance notification”, said Raines, spokesman for the US Central Command.

Rouhani criticised Thursday the apparent USA moves, saying Iran s domestic defence had never been within the remit of the nuclear talks. The U.S. naval presence is not just aircraft carriers and destroyers, which were supposedly threatened by this “provocative” test. U.S. nuclear armed submarines are often present in the Sea of Oman, also off the coast of Iran.

Officials said the ships were in the “internationally recognised maritime traffic lane” when the Iranian Navy announced over maritime radio that it was about to conduct a live-fire exercise and asked other vessels to remain clear.

But General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for the IRGC, said that the USA was blatantly lying about the incident and added, “Publishing such lies in the current situation is more a psychological operation”.

On Tuesday, a United States military official said that the Iranian navy, in an act that was described as “highly provocative”, fired several rockets on 26 December within 1,500 metres of USS Truman. The White House declined to comment on the Journal report, which was attributed to anonymous US officials.

In October 2014, a Navy helicopter from USS George H.W. Bush also observed Iranian small boats launching several unguided rockets about eight nautical miles away, he said.

In recent weeks, tensions between the USA and Iran have risen.

In the time since, Iran has conducted missile tests criticized by the USA, as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base.

Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that new sanctions would constitute a violation of the agreement.

Adam Szubin, the acting undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in a statement circulated on Capitol Hill that the US “will vigorously press sanctions against activities” outside of the nuclear deal.