US carrier group shadowed in Hormuz
Source: Agencies |
February 15, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IRANIAN patrol boats and aircraft shadowed a US aircraft carrier strike group as it transited the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.
The passage ended a Gulf mission that displayed Western naval power amid heightened tensions with Tehran, which has threatened to choke off vital oil shipping lanes.
But officers onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln said there were no incidents with Iranian forces and described the surveillance as routine measures by Tehran near the strategic strait, which is jointly controlled by Iran and Oman.
The last time an American carrier left the Gulf - the USS John C. Stennis in late December - Iran's army chief warned the US it should never return.
The Lincoln was the centerpiece of a flotilla that entered the Gulf last month along with British and French warships in a display of Western unity against Iranian threats.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said it plans its own naval exercises near the strait, the route for a fifth of the world's oil supply. But Iran's military has made no attempts to disrupt oil tanker traffic - which the US and allies have said would bring a swift response.
Two US warships escorted the Abraham Lincoln on its journey through the strait and into the Arabian Sea after nearly three weeks in the Gulf.
The passage ended a Gulf mission that displayed Western naval power amid heightened tensions with Tehran, which has threatened to choke off vital oil shipping lanes.
But officers onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln said there were no incidents with Iranian forces and described the surveillance as routine measures by Tehran near the strategic strait, which is jointly controlled by Iran and Oman.
The last time an American carrier left the Gulf - the USS John C. Stennis in late December - Iran's army chief warned the US it should never return.
The Lincoln was the centerpiece of a flotilla that entered the Gulf last month along with British and French warships in a display of Western unity against Iranian threats.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said it plans its own naval exercises near the strait, the route for a fifth of the world's oil supply. But Iran's military has made no attempts to disrupt oil tanker traffic - which the US and allies have said would bring a swift response.
Two US warships escorted the Abraham Lincoln on its journey through the strait and into the Arabian Sea after nearly three weeks in the Gulf.
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