Iran Press/Iran news: The USS John C. Stennis sailed into the Persian Gulf on Friday, ahead of the final stage of the IRGC's 12th 'Great Prophet' military exercises currently being held in the waters of the Persian Gulf and in the Island of Qeshm.
According to Iran Press, as Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats approached USS John C. Stennis, one of them launched a drone to film the US aircraft carrier.
“The Iranian craft drove in front of our ship and stopped, and tried to capture their own sort of picture of what was going on,” Capt. Randy Peck, the commanding officer of the Stennis said.
The naval deployment is a direct response to Iran’s influence in the region.
The arrival of the USS John C. Stennis comes as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched a military exercise in the Persian Gulf. The drills are aimed at showcasing the country’s defensive capabilities, and ensuring combat readiness of Iran's armed forces.
Iranian naval forces have on many occasion fired warning shots towards American military vessels approaching Iranian waters and asked them to change course.
On January 12, 2016, IRGC Naval forces arrested ten US Marines after their patrol boats entered Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The following day, the IRGC announced that the Marines were released after Americans apologised for the incident.
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