Iran denies it fired rockets near U.S. warships in key strait

“The Guards’ naval force had no exercise in the past week when the Americans claim that a missile or rocket was sacked in the Hormuz Strait area”, he said.

A USA military official said an Iranian vessel had test-fired several rockets near three Western warships including the aircraft carrier.

Earlier reports said that Revolutionary Guards launched rockets near the USA aircraft-carrier Harry S. Truman.

“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.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf.

Since the accord was struck, Iran s military has conducted missile tests that were condemned by the US.

Both the US and Iran insist the missile program is not part of a landmark agreement Tehran reached with world powers in July that is to lift worldwide sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.

On Wednesday, the Obama administration began preparing new sanctions that would target almost a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong for their suspected role in helping develop Iran’s missile program and supporting human-rights abuses and global terrorism, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing USA officials.

Adam Szubin, the acting undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in a statement circulated on Capitol Hill that the US “will vigorously press sanctions against activities” outside of the nuclear deal.

Iran denied firing rockets last week near a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the accusation by Washington a “lie”.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman dismissed the USA claim as a “psychological operation”.

“Only 23 seconds warning was given before the weapons were fired”, said U.S. Navy Cmdr.

Iranian and U.S. forces have clashed in the Gulf in the past, especially during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In October, Iran announced the tests of long-range Emad missile which could be guided and controlled until hitting the target with high precision.

In reaction, General Ramezan Sharif stressed that the IRGC Navy has held no drills across the Strait of Hormuz within the past week.

Officials said that at no time did the Truman stray into Iranian territorial waters.