The USS John C. Stennis entered the Gulf on Friday as tensions continue to rise and reach unprecedented levels between Tehran and Washington. A war of words began between the two countries after President Donald Trump took America out of a nuclear deal with Iran in May and imposed sanctions on its banking and energy sectors. The ship is the first in the region since President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. Iranian navy commander, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari has said that this aircraft does not pose a significant threat.
He said to the Iranian Students News Agency news agency: “The presence of this warship is insignificant to us.
“We will not allow this warship to come near our territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.”
The navy commander said the US navy was able to sail in international waters near Iran as the Iranian navy could also sail in the Atlantic Ocean near US waters.
He said: “They do not have the courage or ability to take any measures against us. We have enough capabilities to stand against their actions and we have fully rehearsed for that.”
The commander also said that Iran was on alert for possible threats, saying: “ Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards launched war games in the Gulf on Saturday in which naval vessels, helicopters, drones, rocket launchers and commando units took part.”
Guards’ spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said on Monday: “The Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman has had more safety and security in the last 10 months in the absence of a U.S. aircraft carrier.”
Former counter-terrorism specialist John Stennis has said aircrafts carriers are a “show of force to pre-empt any aggressive action by Iran”.
He said:”Aircraft carriers are always moved around to wherever there is any possibility of conflict.
“If Iran does try to interfere with traffic or even block the straits there will be a response from the US and its Arab allies in the Gulf.
“I believe they would hit a target that is military, much like the cruise missile launches in Syria, to serve as a warning.
In the past few years, there have been confrontations between the Revolutionary Guards and the US military in the Gulf, but these incidents have decreased.
President Trump accused Iran of breaking the spirit of the Iran nuclear agreement by continuing to develop long ranged missiles and backing terror groups across the Middle East.
Source » express