Iran started large-scale military exercises in its southern waters on Sunday, days after its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces said they stopped a U.S. attempt over seizing an oil cargo.

The drills involve ground, air, sea and drone units of Iran’s army in an area stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the north of the Indian Ocean, according to the state TV.

On Wednesday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it wrested a Vietnam-flagged vessel that carried Iranian crude from U.S. forces in the Gulf of Oman in an Oct. 25 incident.

Iran Says It Thwarted U.S. Attempt to Seize Gulf Oil Cargo

Rejecting as a “ridiculous claim” the Iranian assertion that the U.S. was trying to take control of the tanker, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon last week that “the only seizing that was done was by Iran.”

Source » bnnbloomberg