This image made from video released by the U.S. Navy on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016 shows the view from a Seahawk helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on December 26, 2015. A flash appears on the left side of the video and, after zooming in, it shows small boats the Navy said were Iranian firing rockets.
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Iran sank a replica of a USA aircraft carrier in February near the strait and it earlier tested so-called “suicide drones” it said could crash into naval vessels.
Stephens said Saturday that 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”. Previously, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman said their forces didn’t carry out drills there at that time and called the American comments “psychological warfare”.
The incident was preceded by one in April when the USS Theodore Roosevelt was leaving the strait to pursue an Iranian flotilla carrying weapons in the direction of Yemen. Besides the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, the rockets were also fired near a USA destroyer and a French warship. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the Navy’s 5th Fleet.
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The incident came despite a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including the U.S. It is unclear how far the United Nations or United States will go to respond to the violations, though on Wednesday, the Treasury Department notified Capitol Hill of new pending sanctions against 11 individuals and entities accused of supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program. Protesters in Iran then set ablaze the Saudi embassy.
