Alwaght- Iran's navy has warned an intruding US warship and warplanes to leave an area in the Sea of Oman, where the navy is holding a major military exercise.
The USS Monterey (CG-61), a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser cruiser, was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz where the Iranian forces were staging the main phase of the Velayat 94 massive drills along the country's Southeastern Makran coast along the Persian Gulf on Wednesday.
According to the Iran's Navy, the US warship left the region immediately after receiving the warning.
Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari said the warship seemed to be planning to spy on Iranian vessels and weapons.
"Some still seem to be holding no belief in Iran's naval power; hence they attempt to come close to get informed of our moves and capabilities," the Admiral said on Wednesday.
The incident was the second naval showdown between the United States and Iran in Persian Gulf waters in just two weeks.
On January 13, the IRGC announced that ten US Marines, who had drifted in to the country's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and had been taken in to Iranian custody, had been released after Americans apologized for the incident.
The tactical phase of the Velayat-94 war games kicked off Wednesday in a 3 million-square kilometer area of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, the Tasnim news agency reported. Tehran is testing its submarines, destroyers and coastal missile batteries as well as communications and electronic warfare stations.
Rear-Admiral Sayyari said the maneuvers aim to show Iranian forces' strength both in ensuring security on the seas and in defending the country's sea borders in the Hormuz Strait, the Sea of Oman and the north of the Indian Ocean.
The stage has witnessed marines simulating the interception of invaders while on board surface vessels and submarines across a large expanse of territorial and international waters covering parts of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Indian Ocean south of Iran.
Support units, comprising surface-to-sea missile launchers, rocket launchers, commandos, coastal artillery, and mobile electronic warfare systems, were also deployed to littoral areas.
The Navy fielded its domestically-built Tareq submarine during the drills, which also featured torpedo launchers, destroyers, and speedboats.
The four-stage drills are the biggest annual ones by the Navy, which assesses all its tactics and combat routines through the maneuvers.
According to Sayyari, the drills seek to “to display the defensive might of Iran as a country announcing the message of peace and friendship to the countries of the region.”