Iran denies it fired rockets near USA warships in Gulf

Navy officials immediately called the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy action “provocative and unsafe”, adding that the U.S. Navy did not have sufficient prior warning of an Iranian live-fire exercise in the area.

In Washington, Navy Commander Kyle Raines, spokesman for the US Central Command, said on Tuesday several Revolutionary Guard vessels fired the rockets “in close proximity” of the warships and nearby merchant traffic “after providing only 23 minutes of advance notification”.

Shariff dismissed the USA claims that it fired “unguided rockets” near its vessels on Saturday as “psychological warfare” against Iran.

The US said the rockets were not fired in the direction of vessels from the US or any other state.

In the past, Iran has threatened to block the strait, which lies at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf.

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. However, the official said the French military did not consider it to be a threatening incident as the rocket fire clearly wasn’t directed toward the Western fleet.

It was the third such provocation in the past 14 months, a spokesman for the Navy’s 5 Fleet, responsible for operations in the Persian Gulf, told Fox News.

The incident, first reported by NBC News, marks another flare-up as the Iranian nuclear pact is poised to take full effect.

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. The White House declined to comment on the Journal report, which was attributed to anonymous US officials. That came after the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine. The development seems to indicate that the historic arrangement between the USA and Iran appears to be on the right track.

Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after its forces had earlier surrounded a U.S.-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait. Taraghi has long expressed the view that the nuclear deal did not signal a transformation of the long-strained relations between the United States and Iran.

Diplomats have held out hope that the deal over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme could ease decades of mistrust and reduce tensions in the Middle East.