An Iranian rocket came within roughly 1,500 yards of striking the USS Harry S. Truman as the aircraft carrier was cruising through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, military officials said Wednesday.
The incident occurred as naval vessels belonging to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were conducting a series of rocket tests in the area as the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate, the FS Provence, were passing through, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Cmdr. Kyle Raines, according to NBC News.
The USS Harry S. Truman had remained in what is described as "internationally recognized maritime traffic lane" when the Iranian navy announced over maritime radio channels no more than 23 minutes beforehand that it was about to conduct such an exercise.
At no time did the Truman stray into Iranian territorial waters, Raines asserted, calling Iran's action's "highly unnecessarily provocative, unsafe and unprofessional," according to the New York Daily News.
"Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law," he said.
Iran downplayed the entire event in a report, saying that no vessel was in danger.
The event comes as Iran and world powers led by the U.S. lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the Islamic Republic agreeing to put a hamper on its nuclear program, according to the Associated Press.
The USS Harry S. Truman returned to the Arabian Gulf Tuesday to assist coalition-led airstrikes against ISIS.
