Iran Films US Aircraft Carrier

Iran's chest-thumping continues: An Iranian surveillance plane spotted and recorded footage of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf as part of its current Navy drill in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's state-run news agency said today. It quoted the top admiral in Iran's navy as saying that the "foreign fleet will be warned by Iranian forces if it enters the area of the drill." The AP sees the announcement as an Iranian attempt to bolster the perception of its navy's role in the region's waterways.

To wit, the admiral boasted that the move proves that Iran has "control over the moves by foreign forces" in the area in which it is staging its 10-day drill. A spokeswoman for the US 5th fleet confirmed that a US aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, had passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, in a "pre-planned, routine transit." She said the fleet's "interaction with the regular Iranian navy continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well known, routine, and professional."