Local military has claimed it threatened and chased off two US ships during a series of war drills in the Sea of Oman.

US military officials have confirmed they were in contact with Iranian forces, but still carried out their mission.

But the Iranian military has claimed the ships were warned they had to leave the drills zone.

He said: “This morning and in the first hour of the drills, two warships of the coalition which had approached the drills zone to monitor the Iranian Navy units were identified by the Navy drones.

“After declaring the issue to the drills’ tactical base, the patrolling and reconnaissance planes flew over the coalition warships and warned them to leave the region and the warships left the drill zone.”

Relations between the US and Iran appear to be at an all-time-low with both sides readying for conflict.

Iran has been beefing up its military hardware, testing a range of rockets and laser guided cannons.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also testing various light and heavy submarines, along with helicopters and other air defences.

Former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin said Iran had a history of not respecting international waters.

He added: “The problem with Iranian leadership is that they don’t understand that international waters are international.”

Source » dailystar