WASHINGTON — Iranian navy ships launched rockets near a U.S. aircraft carrier as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz last week in what a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday was a “highly provocative” action.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and two other coalition warships were passing through the strait, which connects the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, on a routine transit Saturday when the incident occurred, U.S. Central Command said in a statement emailed to dpa.
The Iranian navy vessels launched the rockets “in close proximity to the coalition vessels and nearby merchant traffic after providing only 23 minutes of advance notification,” the statement said.
“These actions were highly provocative, unsafe and unprofessional and call into question Iran’s commitment to the security of a waterway vital to international commerce,” said Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a CENTCOM spokesman.
The statement confirmed a report by NBC news saying a rocket came within 4,900 feet of the aircraft carrier. The report identified the other military ships as a French frigate and the U.S. destroyer USS Buckley.
Fast and short attack vessels of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard began conducting a live-fire exercise as the carrier was nearing the end of the strait, firing off several unguided rockets, according to NBC, quoting a U.S. military official.
The aircraft carrier and the two other ships have been deployed to the region in support of the U.S.-led coalition supporting the operation against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
Raines said while most interactions between Iranian forces and the U.S. Navy are professional, safe and routine, “this event was not and runs contrary to efforts to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime safety in the global commons.”
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