Iran’s president orders stepped-up missile production

A statement early Wednesday from Cmdr.

The USS Truman Carrier Strike Group, which consists of a carrier air wing, Navy cruiser and four Navy destroyers – was traveling alongside commercial vessels and a partner French Frigate, the Friendship Provenance.

Raines said the Iranian vessels announced over maritime radio that they would carry out a live fire exercise 23 minutes beforehand.

“Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognised maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with worldwide maritime law”, he said.

A team of United Nations sanctions monitors said in a confidential report seen by Reuters on December 15 that Iran tested a rocket on October 10 capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, which Iran maintains was a convention missile.

These provocations, with the country potentially weeks away from receiving billions in sanctions relief under the nuclear deal, are fueling renewed concerns in Washington about whether Iran will be held to account for violations.

Even with the nuclear agreement moving along, the Treasury Department is reportedly getting ready to slap new sanctions on companies and people participating in the ballistic missile program.

The Strait of Hormuz is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point.

The US has said Iran fired “several unguided rockets” in the strategically important waterway. Iran has always denied seeking nuclear arms.

The navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has long focused on what it calls “asymmetric warfare” in the Strait of Hormuz, a combination of fast boats and missiles to challenge the larger vessels of adversaries. It conducts anti-piracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to Iran. Both sides are familiar with that latter scenario: the USS Vincennes, erroneously thinking it was under attack, destroyed an Iranian airliner over the strait in 1988, killing all 290 aboard. Iran also sank a replica of a US aircraft carrier in February near the strait. “If US continues its illegitimate interference w/ Iran’s right to defend itself a new program will be devised to enhance missile capabilities”, the president wrote on Twitter. The purported incident comes five months after Iran and world powers led by the USA agreed a landmark deal – yet to be finally implemented – to limit the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

Following the Fox News report of the second ballistic missile launch, U.S. Sen.

Some U.S. critics of the deal have said the Iran cannot be trusted to comply – however proponents of the deal say Iran’s actions can be verified and that progress seems to be on track. Iran has always viewed the Strait of Hormuz as part of its neighborhood.