A US aircraft carrier arrived in the Arabian Gulf Friday for the first time since Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May.
The arrival of the USS John C. Stennis comes as Iranian officials have returned to repeatedly threatening to close off the Strait of Hormuz, which a third of all oil traded by sea passes.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels shadowed the Stennis and its strike group, at one point launching rockets away from it and flying a drone nearby, reported The Associated Press.
The long absence of a carrier, however, could become a standard practice here as now-outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought to shake up naval operations and American air bases spanning the region can scramble fighter jets and drones.
"We are trying to be more operationally unpredictable," said Lt. Chloe Morgan, a spokeswoman for US' Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. "Now we're switching it up because our adversaries are watching closely. We want to be operationally unpredictable to our enemies, but strategically predictable to our partners."
Tensions have been high since President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, which saw sanctions lifted for Tehran limiting its uranium enrichment.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has repeatedly warned any attempt to stop Iran's export of crude oil could see it close off the Hormuz Strait.
