By NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran flew a surveillance drone over a
U.S. aircraft carrier and published video of the encounter Friday, the
latest in a series of edgy naval incidents between the two countries in
the Persian Gulf after the recent nuclear deal.
While the U.S. Navy stressed it knew the drone was
unarmed and the flyover didn't interrupt U.S. operations in the war
against the Islamic State group, the incident underlined the continued
tension over control of waterways crucial to global oil supplies. It
follows a rocket test last month by the Islamic Republic near coalition
warships and commercial traffic, as well as Iran's brief capture of
American sailors who strayed into its territorial waters.
Iranian
state television and the semi-official Fars news agency, which has close
ties to the Revolutionary Guard, published identical images Friday both
said came from the drone. The footage, which The Associated Press could
not independently verify, purported to show the drone being launched
and then hovering over an unidentified aircraft carrier, a targeting
bracket briefly passing over a jet parked on the deck below.
The
Iranian reports suggested the footage was from Friday. However, Cmdr.
Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet based in
Bahrain, said an unarmed Iranian drone flew near the French aircraft
carrier Charles de Gaulle and "directly over" the USS Harry S. Truman on
Jan. 12 as the vessels were in international waters in the Persian
Gulf.
He said the Navy launched a helicopter that determined the
drone wasn't armed and "posed no danger to the ship" as the carrier
wasn't conducting flight operations at the time. His comments implied
that had there been active takeoffs and landings of U.S. aircraft, the
situation might have changed.
Stephens called the drone's flight
"abnormal and unprofessional." He added that the U.S. Navy was "not in a
position to verify the authenticity of the video as there are countless
examples of similar footage to be found on the Internet."
The
nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, is
in the Persian Gulf region launching airstrikes and supporting
operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, the commander of Iran's navy, called the drone overflight "a sign of bravery."
It
"allowed our men to go so close to the warship and shoot such a
beautiful and accurate footage of the combat units of the foreign
forces," he told state television.
State television and the
state-run IRNA news agency said an Iranian light submarine also
participated in the surveillance operation. When asked about the
presence of a submarine, Stephens said: "Iran has several submarines ...
for its current exercise," but declined to discuss specifics.
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This still image made from video broadcast on Iranian State television Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 shows w …
In Washington, U.S. Navy spokesman Cmdr. William Marks stressed America remains ready to use force if necessary.
"We
are confident in our force's ability to respond appropriately as the
situation dictates and will defend ourselves should that prove
necessary," he said.
Iran's navy began a naval drill this week
over a 3-million-square-kilometer (1.16-million-square-mile) area
including parts of the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian
Ocean. Iran said Wednesday its navy warned a U.S. warship to leave an
area of the naval drill. The U.S. Navy later denied its operations were
affected.
Iran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, including
the U.S., last year to limit its atomic program in exchange for the
lifting of crippling economic sanctions. The sanctions ended this month
and many average Iranians continue to wait to feel their effect.
Meanwhile,
in recent months, Iran has shown footage of underground missile bases
on state television and conducted ballistic missile tests criticized by
the U.S.
Iran has more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of
shoreline facing the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Control of that
territory, including the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a third
of all oil traded by sea passes, has remained a priority for Iran's
military and it conducts regular drills in the region.
The U.S.
has criticized some of those maneuvers, including what it called a
"highly provocative" Iranian rocket test in December near U.S. warships
and commercial traffic passing through the strait. Iran denied the test
was provocative. The U.S. later released footage showing the rocket
fire.
Earlier this month, Iranian forces captured 10 U.S. Navy
sailors who entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island, an
outpost in the middle of the Gulf. The sailors were released in less
than a day, though Iranian state media aired footage of the sailors'
capture, angering U.S. politicians.
Past confrontations have been far worse.
In
April 1988, the U.S. attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sank or damaged
six Iranian vessels, including two naval frigates after the near-sinking
of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine, laid
amid the Islamic Republic's bloody 1980s war with Iraq.
A few
months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an
Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting
down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew.
In this
latest incident, however, Iran likely wanted to showcase its locally
made drones, as well as appease hard-liners suspicious of the nuclear
deal, said Joshua Shifrinson, a professor at the Bush School of
Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
"They
live in a competitive world and the U.S. might change its mind on the
nuclear deal, especially if a different administration comes in,"
Shifrinson said. "Iran also has other opponents in and around the Gulf,
all of which means Iran wants to remind people that just because they
cooperated does not mean they're turning belly up and are going to
surrender everything." appeared first on 360 Entertainment
