BICOM

Iran’s navy test fired rockets in close proximity to three Western military vessels last week in the Straits of Hormuz, sparking condemnation from the United States.

The incident apparently took place on 26 December, after the Iranian navy announced via radio that it was about to conduct a live-fire exercise, warning ships to stay clear. However, the rocket fire came within 1,500 metres of the American warship USS Harry S Truman. A French frigate and the USS Bulkeley were also in the area. A US military official told AFP that “We look at this firing so close to the ships as highly provocative.” The Straits of Hormuz, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, has often been a flashpoint for tension between the United States and Iran, which has previously threatened to close the route.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei yesterday told a conference of Islamic scholars that Muslims must “resist” an American plan to “sow divisions among Muslims.” The Iranian Fars news agency quoted Khamenei saying that the United States is attempting to “destroy the Muslim countries’ infrastructures as in Syria, Yemen and Libya,” and that Muslims “should not remain silent and surrender to this plot.” Khamenei alleged that as part of this effort, “terrorist groups like Daesh [ISIS] and other groups… have been created through the funding of the US affiliates and their political aids.” America, he said is “against any Muslim who wants to live in accordance with Islamic rules and makes efforts to that end.”

Khamenei’s comments come a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry praised a move by Iran to ship more than 25,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium materials to Russia, in accordance with the long-term nuclear accord agreed in July between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany). Kerry called it a sign of “significant progress” and praised July’s deal as “truly one of our most important accomplishments of 2015.”