US-Iran Tensions Flare After Carrier Steams Through Strait of Hormuz - East Idaho News
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US-Iran Tensions Flare After Carrier Steams Through Strait of Hormuz

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GETTY W 122911 IranMap?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1325175511566iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Tension between Iran and the United States in the Strait of Hormuz increased again Thursday as an Iranian military official told the official IRNA news agency that its planes had shot photographs and video of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the strategic narrow waterway in the Persian Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital transit point for up to 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. Only a few dozen miles wide at its narrowest point, it lies between Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. Iran said this week that it would choke off that supply if the U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.

The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain across from Iran and guards the passageway, confirmed to ABC News that two of its ships did pass through the Strait of Hormuz on Dec. 27 en route to the Arabian Sea where they are assisting operations in Afghanistan.

“The aircraft carrier U.S.S. John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and guided-missile cruiser U.S.S. Mobile Bay (CG 53), conducted a planned, routine transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Dec. 27. “The ships completed a port visit in Jebel Ali, UAE, and transited the Strait, in order to provide air support to Operation Enduring Freedom from the North Arabian Sea,” Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich said in an emailed response to questions about the Iranian report.

Lt Rebarich said Fifth Fleet’s regular contacts with Iran’s Navy, “continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well known, routine and professional,” but she added that “It is not standard practice to share our transits due to operational security.”

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it would not allow Iran to follow through on its threats.

“Closing the Strait of Hormuz will not be tolerated,” spokesman George Little told ABC News. He said Iran was entitled to conduct its military exercises, but added that, “raising the temperature on tensions is unhelpful.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

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