Iran's military launched an annual exercise on its southern coast on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, a few weeks before resumption of talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.
The exercise covers an area from the eastern parts of the Strait of Hormuz to the northern parts of the Indian Ocean and parts of the Red Sea, state television reported.
Periodic confrontations have taken place between Iran’s military and US forces in the Gulf since 2018, when former US President Donald Trump exited the nuclear pact and
reimposed harsh sanctions against Tehran.
Iran has reacted by breaching the deal's limits on its nuclear program.
Last week, Iran claimed that it had thwarted an attempt by the US Navy to seize a tanker in the Sea of Oman carrying its oil, and that the vessel was back in Iranian waters.
The Pentagon denied these claims, describing them as "completely false, untrue... and ridiculous."