State TV showed what appeared to be the video. It was not possible to make out the details of the carrier because the footage was filmed from far away. But fighter jets and personnel can be made out.

Beyond the Strait lies vast bodies of water, including the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet is also active in the area, as are warships of several other countries that patrol for pirates there.

Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, said the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay headed out from the Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, after a visit to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.

She described the passage through the strait as ‘a pre-planned, routine transit’ for the carrier, which is providing air support from the north Arabian Sea to troops in Afghanistan.

Rebarich did not directly address Iranian claims of possessing the reported footage but said the 5th Fleet’s ‘interaction with the regular Iranian Navy continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well known, routine and professional’.

Today’s report follows U.S. warnings that it will not allow Iran to choke off one of the world’s busiest shipping routes in revenge for sanctions imposed on the country over its secretive nuclear programme.

Last night an American military official said that ‘any disruption will not be tolerated’ in the Strait of Hormuz, which is used by 40 per cent of the world’s oil tankers.

And a Pentagon spokesman warned that Iran would destroy its own ‘economic lifeline’ if it disrupted the international oil trade.

Tensions rose after Iran’s top naval commander bragged that shutting down the Gulf to oil tankers would be ‘easier than drinking a glass of water.’

 

Britain dismissed the Iranian boasts as an attempt to draw attention from its nuclear ambitions.

Playing down the threat, a Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘Iranian politicians regularly use this type of rhetoric to distract attention from the real issue, which is the nature of their nuclear programme.’

Tehran warned a week ago it would shut down the strategically vital shipping lane if the West took tougher action against Iran.

Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran wouldn’t allow ‘a drop of oil’ to pass through the strait if sanctions were widened.

The row ratcheted up another notch after Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, head of the Iranian navy, declared that ‘closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran’ s armed forces is really easy – or as Iranians say it will be easier than drinking a glass of water.’

The comments drew a quick response from the U.S, with Pentagon press secretary George Little saying: ‘This is not just an important issue for security and stability in the region, but is an economic lifeline for countries in the Gulf, to include Iran.’

Iranian media have described how Iran could move to close the strait, saying the country would use a combination of warships, submarines, speed boats, anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, surface-to-sea missiles and drones to stop ships from sailing through the narrow waterway.

Iran’s navy claims it has sonar-evading submarines designed for shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, enabling it to hit passing enemy vessels.

A closure of the strait could temporarily cut off some oil supplies and force shippers to take longer, more expensive routes that would drive oil prices higher. It also potentially opens the door for a military confrontation that would further rattle global oil markets.

Threat: An Iranian politician claims the country’s military is preparing to close off the Strait of Hormuz

But Mark Toner, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, responded: ‘It’s another attempt to distract attention away from the real issue, which is their continued non-compliance with their international nuclear obligations.’

Western tensions with Iran have increased since a U.N report claimed last month that Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb.

Iran strongly denies this and insists it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.The possibility of imposing sanctions on Iran has divided U.N members.

Iran has defiantly expanded nuclear activity despite four rounds of U.N. sanctions meted out since 2006 over its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment.

Many diplomats believe only sanctions targeting Iran’s lifeblood oil sector might be painful enough to make it change course, but Russia and China – big trade partners of Tehran – have blocked such a move at the United Nations.

The U.S. Congress has passed a bill banning dealings with the Iran Central Bank, and President Barack Obama has said he will sign it despite his misgivings. Critics warn it could impose hardships on U.S. allies and drive up oil prices.

The bill could impose penalties on foreign firms that do business with Iran’s central bank. European and Asian nations import Iranian oil and use its central bank for the transactions.

The threats to close the Strait of Hormuz coincided with a 10-day Iranian naval exercise in the Strait and nearby waters, a show of military force that began on Saturday.

‘Our enemies will give up on their plots against Iran only if we give them a firm and strong lesson,’ Mr Rahimi said.

Around a third of all shipped oil passes through the four mile-wide Strait between Oman and Iran and U.S. warships patrol the area to ensure safe passage.

Most of the crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq – together with nearly all the liquefied natural gas from lead exporter Qatar is transported through the channel.

After a news agency mistakenly reported the strait had already been closed, crude oil prices leapt by almost $2 to $100.45/per barrel, but they later stabilised.

Last month, Iran’s energy minister told Al Jazeera that Tehran could use oil as a political tool in the event of any future conflict over its nuclear program.

Tensions over the program have increased since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on November 8 that Tehran appears to have worked on designing a nuclear bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end.

Iran has warned it will respond to any attack by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf and analysts say one way to retaliate would be to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Last month former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said President Obama should have ordered an airstrike over Iran after their refusal to hand back the unmanned spyplane that crashed in November.

During a White House news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Mr Obama said: ‘We have asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.’

But Mr Cheney told CNN: ‘The right response would have been to go in immediately after it had gone down and destroy it.

http://www.pakalertpress.com/2011/12/30/iran-boasts-of-surveillance-of-aircraft-carrier-and-claims-u-s-is-not-in-a-position-to-prevent-blockage-of-major-shipping-lane/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pakalert+%28Pak+Alert+Press%29

 

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