Iran says it made surveillance flight over US aircraft carrier in Persian Gulf

By AP and TOI STAFFToday, 7:09 pm  1

Illustrative photo of the USS Enterprise, a US Navy aircraft carrier that was deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2012, before being decommissioned at the end of the year. (Official US Navy Imagery/flickr)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards have successfully managed a surveillance flight over a US aircraft carrier, the nation’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Saturday.

The report showed footage apparently from a Guard drone that flew over the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and another US warship in the Persian Gulf. The images showed jet fighters parked on the carrier deck.

The report did not say when the footage was shot.

The development comes after the US government earlier this month designated the Guards as a foreign terrorist group to increase pressure on Iran and further isolate the country. Iran responded by labeling all US forces as terrorists.

Lt. Chloe J. Morgan, a US Naval Forces Central Command spokesperson, said the US and its allies were committed to freedom of navigation in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. She didn’t elaborate.

American forces routinely travel through the strait, despite sometimes tense encounters with the Guard forces.

These have included Iranian vessels zooming within a close distance of US warships or shadowing them as they sailed.

In 2016, Iran briefly arrested 10 US Navy sailors after they accidentally entered Iranian territorial waters.