Iran launches second naval drill amid U.S. military build-up and upcoming nuclear talks
Iran on Monday launched a second naval drill in weeks, state TV reported, adding that the drill would test the country’s intelligence and operational capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
This comes as President Donald Trump said on Friday that USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other military assets the U.S. has built up in the region.
Iran announced its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard started the drill early Monday morning in the waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
EOS Risk Group said sailors passing through the region received by radio a warning that the northern lane of the Strait of Hormuz, in Iranian territorial waters, likely would see a live-fire drill Tuesday. Iranian state TV did not mention the live fire drill.
This is the second time in recent weeks sailors have received warning about an Iranian live fire drill. During the previous exercise, announced at the end of January, the U.S. military’s Central Command issued a warning to Iran and the Revolutionary Guard. While acknowledging Iran’s “right to operate professionally in international airspace and waters,” it warned against interfering or threatening American warships or passing commercial vessels.
On Feb. 4, tensions between the Iranian and U.S. navies rose further after a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea.
Separately, Iran’s top diplomat met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Monday, ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said he would also meet with Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi of Oman, which is hosting the U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday.
