US Military Outraged As Iran Test-fires Rockets Close To USS Truman

The U.S. military have accused Iran of “highly provocative” actions after they fired unguided rockets 1,500 yards from ships including an American aircraft carrier.

Iranian ships fired rockets in the Strait of Hormuz as the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, was reportedly passing 1,500 yards away

The US Central Command has called the drill “provocative, unsafe, and unprofessional.”

The incident, originally reported on Wednesday via two unnamed US military officials, allegedly took place on Saturday.

RT reports:

One of the officials said that the US ships had been in an “internationally recognized maritime traffic lane” and not in any country’s territorial waters during the time of Iran’s naval exercises.

Iran issued a warning over maritime radio shortly before conducting the missile test asking vessels to remain clear. The USS Harry S. Truman was about 1,500 yards (1371 meters) away from the launch location. The rockets were directed off the carrier’s starboard side, away from commercial ships and the traffic lane, the sources said.

Yet, while Iranians were “clearly not” trying to target the US ship, the officials called the drill “unnecessarily provocative and unsafe.”

A spokesman for US Central Command, Navy Commander Kyle Raines, has confirmed that a number of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vessels launched rockets “in close proximity” to the warships and other merchant traffic “after providing only 23 minutes of advance notification,” Reuters reported.

“These actions were highly provocative, unsafe, and unprofessional and call into question Iran’s commitment to the security of a waterway vital to international commerce,” Raines added. “While most interactions between Iranian forces and the U. Navy are professional, safe, and routine, this event was not and runs contrary to efforts to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime safety in the global commons.”